FINAL DRAFT

The Distribution of Child Poverty

in the
Developing World

Report to UNICEF
By

David Gordon
Shailen Nandy
Christina Pantazis
Simon Pemberton
Peter Townsend

Funding for this publication was provided by the United Nations Children's Fund ( UNICEF)

Centre for International Poverty Research

University of Bristol
8 Priory Road
Bristol BS8 1TZ
United Kingdom

July 2003
 Contents

Acknowledgements ii

Chapters
1. Child Rights and Child Poverty in Developing Countries 1

2. Relationship between Child Poverty and Child Rights 11

3. Measurement of Child Poverty and Standard of Living 23

4. Severe Deprivation amongst Children in the Developing World 47

5. Nature and Severity of Deprivation and Poverty amongst

Households with Children 77

6. Conclusions and Policy Implications 81

Bibliography 89

Appendices

I. Human Rights Provisions Relating to Poverty 101

II. International Agreements on Poverty and Human Rights 107

III. Constructing a Combined Index of Anthropometric Failure 115

IV. Severe Deprivation and Absolute Poverty of Children: Country Data 122

i
 Acknowledgements
The authors wish to express their thanks to UNICEF for providing a grant which funded two stages
of research developed from the year 2000 which involved collaborative work between the University
of Bristol and the London School of Economics. In a succession of meetings with UNICEF staff
and, in particular, with Alberto Minujin, at meetings in London, Rio de Janeiro and New York, the
plan described in these pages evolved and was agreed. The idea for the work sprang from the new
focus on children themselves rather than on families and communities in general that was reflected in
UNICEF's programme during the 1990s.

The first priority was to review direct and indirect information about children and find the strengths
and weaknesses of existing data about children's conditions and needs. While a great deal of national
and international research on Articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child has been
completed, the relationship between child poverty and child rights had not been fully explored.
Thanks are due to Jo Beall, Jonathan Bradshaw, Meghnad Desai and David Piachaud, John
Micklewright, Giovanni Andrea Cornia and Jane Falkingham for the ideas being developed and
especially the comparative studies on the Transition Countries of Eastern Europe published by the
Innocenti Research Centre in Florence. The valuable assistance, in the early weeks, of Ceema
Namazie in reviewing child data in Kyrgyz is gratefully acknowledged. We would also like to thank
Enrique Delamonica and Bill O'Neil for their very helpful comments on the first draft. Jan
Vandemoortele also provided us with considerable help, support and encouragement.

Several classes of postgraduate students at both the University of Bristol and at Birmingham
University have generated a stimulating debate on the measurement of child poverty in developing
countries.

The dependable advice and support of Jean Corston and Helen Gordon throughout this project is also
warmly acknowledged. Helen Gordon also put considerable effort into formatting and editing this
report.

The views expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the views of UNICEF or its
Division of Policy and Planning.

ii
 Chapter 1

Child Rights and Child Poverty in Developing Countries

Introduction
This research report presents the first ever scientific measurement of the extent and depth of child
poverty in all the developing regions of the world. This measurement of child poverty is based upon
internationally agreed definitions arising from the international framework of child rights. In
successive annual reports, UNICEF has argued that poverty is one of the greatest obstacles to the
survival and development of children. The near-consensus reached by all national governments in
framing the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child gave momentum to serious and effective
work to reduce violations of a number of rights relevant to the reduction of child poverty in different
countries.

Poverty denies children their fundamental human rights. Severe or extreme poverty can cause
children permanent damage physically and mentally, stunt and distort their development and destroy
opportunities of fulfilment, including the roles they are expected to play successively as they get
older in family, community and society. Both research and administrative data show that investment
in basic social services for children is a key element to ensure success in alleviating their poverty. It
also shows that a minimal level of family resources to enable parents to meet the needs of their
children are required - even when families are prepared to put their own needs or the needs of work
and other social claims upon them second. If there are insufficient resources to satisfy children's
needs - however hard parents can be shown to try - then this can cause other obligations and
relationships to crumble. This is why UNICEF insists that "poverty reduction begins with children".

The World Declaration and Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit for Children in 1990 set
forth a vision of a ‘first call’ for children by establishing seven major and 20 supporting goals that
were quantifiable and considered achievable by the year 2000.

UNICEF has reported on progress towards these goals1. In 2000, it was found that some of the
trends in the 1980s and 1990s had deepened rather than lifted public concern. Since 1987, the
number of people in developing countries, other than in East Asia and the Pacific, with less than $1 a
day, had increased by 12 million a year. In many countries, the extreme poor had been “left further
behind.” And “the evidence is compelling that the 1990s saw a widening in the gap between rich
and poor countries as well as between rich and poor people within countries, both in terms of
incomes and social outcomes.” (UNICEF, 2000a, pp9, 17 and 45).

In a statement prepared for the end-of-the-decade review, planned for September 2001 but postponed
until May 2002, the Executive Director of UNICEF, Carol Bellamy, was obliged to call attention to
the "mixture of conspicuous achievement and dispiriting failure" for children. Most governments
had not lived up to the promises made at the 1990 World Summit for Children. Despite some
progress, stronger leadership and more sustained policies were required (UNICEF, 2002a).

1
In 2000, an exhaustive and exacting end-of-decade review of progress towards the Summit goals was undertaken,
drawing on a range of sources not previously available, from data collected in the Multiple Indicator Cluster
Surveys (MICS), the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and national progress reports from nearly 150
countries (UNICEF, 2002c).

1
At the United Nations General Assembly's Special Session on Children in September 2002, the latest
information was debated. The ten years since the 1990 World Summit for Children were found to
have yielded mixed results. Three million fewer children under five now died each year, due in large
part to immunization programmes and the dedicated efforts of families and communities. In
developing countries, 28 million fewer children under five suffered the debilitating effects of
malnutrition. More than 175 countries were polio-free and 104 had eliminated neonatal tetanus.
Yet, despite these gains, more than 10 million children still died each year from mostly preventable
diseases, 150 million were estimated to be malnourished, some 600 million children still lived in
poverty and more than 100 million - the majority of them girls - were not in school. The number of
children orphaned by AIDS had grown from 1.2 million to 10.4 million and under five mortality
from AIDS was expected to double by the year 2010 (UN, 2002 and see also UNICEF, 2002b).

UNICEF has strengthened its work on poverty. It has actively participated in international
conferences and government exchanges and published documents and promoted policies - many
aimed to reduce child poverty. Its report Poverty Reduction Begins with Children was of prime
concern at the special session of the UN General Assembly in Geneva in June 2000. The reports
from the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre cover a wide range of research into child rights and
development in both rich and poor countries, especially that affecting child poverty, including, for
example, A League Table of Child Poverty in Rich Nations (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre,
2000) and extensive work on poverty in the transition economies and on the problems of child labour
in India, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and the ramifying problems of children caught up in
armed conflict.

The authors of this report seek to contribute to the consolidation and extension of this work to
include all the developing regions of the world.

The special objective: reviewing the concept and measurement of child poverty
What are the lessons that may be learned from both the evolution of UNICEF's programme and the
'End-of-Decade' reviews? The authors of the present report have a special objective but, in reaching
it, a general objective must be pursued as well. These two will be explained in turn.

The special objective of this report is to provide a firm conceptual foundation for defining and
measuring child poverty and its dimensions in developing regions of the world. There are currently
no consistent estimates of the extent or severity of child poverty in developing countries. Many
countries have detailed anti-poverty strategies and statistics on child poverty but the figures are
usually rough estimates derived from different sources about the distribution and trends in total of
household income. These estimates tend to use different methods and definitions of poverty that
makes the necessary task of comparing countries extremely difficult.

Should child poverty be defined independently or should it be defined in relation to adults? During
the last 50 years, the choice of the former method has attracted a growing number of adherents.
Theoretically, a more independent definition of poverty means treating children as objects of
knowledge in a number of key respects independently of adults, including their parents. Technically,
this means finding criteria of measurement of child poverty that are direct rather than indirect, that is,
statistical indicators of the conditions and experiences of children, not of the families or households
in which they happen to live. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights represented a major
international step after the 1939-45 war in agreeing measures for human development but, as the title
shows, it was addressed to humankind as a whole rather than to particular categories of population
(United Nations General Assembly, 1948). Gradually, people came to believe that the needs and

2
rights of children had to be separately distinguished if progress in acting upon and meeting human
rights as well as human needs was to be achieved.

In 1989, four decades after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Rights
of the Child (CRC) was adopted by governments across the world. The CRC has been quickly
ratified by more nations than has any other charter or convention. The process of distinguishing
children routinely from adults in recommending international action on rights has still to be matched
in the treatment of the concepts of poverty and development.

Child-centred or family-centred?
The model of the Convention on the Rights of the Child suggests that the question of whether the
corresponding conceptualisation of child poverty should be child - or family - centred must be
decided in favour of the former. Children’s needs are different in degree and kind from those of
adults. Their experience of violations of normative behaviour can be distinct from the experience of
their parents and other adults. They may not get an equal share of consideration or resources within
household and family. What applies to adult members of household or family cannot be assumed
automatically to apply to them. It is evident from individual illustrations that children are sometimes
in poverty when their parents are not and vice versa.

This argument, of course, accepts that there are areas of ‘overlap’ between children and parents in
unravelling the particular conditions and experiences of each. Inevitably, many questions will be
posed about procedure in developing separate detailed definitions and measures for child and adult.
This applies to each of the key related concepts of rights, development, poverty, deprivation and
social exclusion. It is sometimes difficult (if not impossible) to separate children’s conditions and
experiences from those of adults in the same family or household. Sharing a group of rooms is an
example. However, even in such an instance, accommodation can be used differently by adult and
child, with prohibitions about, or freedom of access to, different spaces and facilities.

There is no dispute that the CRC gives children the rights to survive, develop, participate and be
protected – and that the international problem is how to put such ideals or aspirations into practice.
The concept of child poverty could be defined in relation to specified rights to “freedom from
material and social deprivation” – premature death, hunger, malnutrition, and lack of access to clean
water, sanitation, education, health care and information. It could also be defined in relation to
specified rights to “freedom from insufficient resources” – namely access to an “adequate standard
of living” and the right to “social security.” Certain articles in the CRC can be usefully grouped
together. Representative information about their fulfilment is available and information about the
fulfilment of one article can sometimes be properly combined with information about another. Thus,
measures of multiple deprivation can provide even sharper evidence about progress in fulfilling child
rights than separate measures of deprivation treated separately or singly.

Should the criterion for child poverty be ‘insufficient resources’ or ‘multi-dimensional deprivation’?
In the present circumstances, there is confusion about what is the appropriate conceptualisation of
poverty for scientists and agencies to use and develop. There is no doubt that there can be alternative
choices of the ‘core’ of meaning that may be turned into good operational science and practical
construction of policy. So far as possible, the choice has to follow criteria of scientific coherence,
reproducibility and validity but also be distinguishable from other closely related concepts – in this
case, material and/or social deprivation, social exclusion and, more restrictedly, malnutrition.
Establishing a ‘core’ of meaning in one case carries the implication of establishing such a core for
other related and even overlapping concepts. In separating the meaning of the different key terms,

3
the likelihood of using one term to mean another is thereby reduced and one source of confusion
eliminated.

The recent history of the debate shows that any success in achieving the millennium goal of halving
extreme poverty in the world by the year 2015 will depend, at least in part, upon achieving scientific
and political consensus about meaning. The arguments and the possible conclusion around which
consensus might be built, are set out in two reports (Gordon and Townsend, 2000, especially
Chapters 4, 5 and 18; Townsend and Gordon, 2002, especially Chapters 3 and 14). The conclusion
of these reports is that the core of meaning must be ‘insufficient resources’ but its acceptance must
also depend on two associated conclusions:

i) that the right threshold of sufficiency must be demonstrated in relation to all forms of
resources and not just income, and

ii) that the level at which resources can be demonstrated to become insufficient must depend on
evidence about the links between resources and external criteria, such as type and degree of
material and social deprivation, or low standard of living - to avoid circularity of reasoning,
i.e. the resources must be insufficient to achieve an adequate standard of living.

The reasons for reaching this conclusion may be illustrated from history of World Bank practice
since the 1939-45 war. The basis of the Bank’s use of a “dollar-a-day per person” as the poverty
line has not been securely established, even in the Bank’s own terms. For example, the annual
reports in both 1990 and 2000 were taken up with poverty eradication issues and have been very
influential. The Bank sought to develop a poverty line that permits “cross-country comparison and
aggregation" (World Bank, 1990, p27). Poverty is defined as "the inability to attain a minimal
standard of living" (ibid, p26). Despite the difficulties of counting the contribution to living
standards of public goods and common-property resources in fixing a poverty line, the World Bank
chose a 'consumption-based' standard that was supposed to comprise:

"two elements: the expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition and other basic
necessities and a further amount that varies from country to country, reflecting the cost of
participating in the everyday life of society." (World Bank, 1990, p26).

The first of these elements was believed to be "relatively straightforward" because it could be
calculated by "looking at the prices of the foods that make up the diets of the poor" (ibid, p26-27).
But the second element was "far more subjective; in some countries indoor plumbing is a luxury, but
in others it is a 'necessity'" (ibid, p27)2. The second element was set aside and not considered at any
length (although it should be pointed out that the example of plumbing is not only open to question
as a ‘luxury’ in some countries but as a ‘material’ instead of ‘social’ illustration of "the cost of
participating in the everyday life of society"). The conceptual and operational possibilities of
constructing the second element of the Bank's poverty line have not since been seriously discussed.
The case for including this element could be said to be stronger now than it was said to be originally
by the Bank. Without that element, the Bank’s poverty line lacks scientific justification and popular
credibility. In particular, this formulation of the poverty line is not one that is applicable cross-
nationally – with relevance to rich and poor countries – like other thresholds of risk, for example,

2
For extended discussion, see Townsend and Gordon (2002, pp62-3 and pp356-364.

4
environmental pollution, radiation and malnutrition.3 Moreover, if the poverty line excludes one of
the two elements supposed to make it viable, the result must be to underestimate the level of income
and other resources required to escape poverty.

The answer given to the question raised in this section of the report paves the way for a more exact
appraisal of child poverty. For example, children’s share of overall resources needs to be established
– rather than assumed to be ‘equal per capita’ in the World Bank’s poverty formulation. Similarly,
children's direct rather than indirect experience of different forms of deprivation has to be calculated
in scale and severity to help to establish an appropriate poverty line for households including
children. It is also of crucial importance to know the extent and nature of children’s deprivation in
order to target anti-poverty policies effectively.

Income- or expenditure-based measure of child poverty?

There is a continuing debate between advocates of income and advocates of expenditure as the basis
for measuring poverty. The debate has existed for many years (Townsend, 1970a). The reason for
concern in making the right choice is that the measures of poverty on one basis rather than the other
produces much larger differences for developing than for industrialised countries. The issue is two-
fold. Applying one measure rather than the other may greatly change the numbers found to be in
poverty in rich compared with poor countries. Equally, it may greatly change the numbers found to
be in poverty in rural compared with urban areas.

Recently, Hussain concluded, for urban China, that poverty was much greater when measured by
expenditure than it was when measured by income (see Hussain, in Townsend and Gordon, 2002,
pp300-302). He believed that much of the difference was due to incomes being in part committed to
saving rather than to expenditure. The problem is different for predominantly rural regions and
countries. Unless income is broadly defined to include income in kind from growth of food for
family consumption and exchange of produce or barter, resources can be seriously under-estimated.
There are other equally important issues. In rich countries, free or subsidised public services
enhance real income or standard of living and can be a form of “income in kind” as substantial as is
the value of home-produced crops in rural countries and regions. Much special research indicates
that the concepts of income and expenditure are not easy to operationalise in practice or reconcile.
However, a more comprehensive definition of income4, combined with care over time (at least
several weeks) in arriving at reliable data about ‘real’ expenditure, seems to bring some degree of
convergence in the calculations by statisticians of total income and total expenditure and of the
respective distribution of the two.

For children, their share of income can be estimated by finding:

! what cash income they receive, plus

! what share of income is spent solely on their behalf, plus
! what ‘income’ in kind they receive privately and from public services and facilities, plus

3
The tendency to define poverty differently for industrialised and ‘developing’ countries is entrenched in the practice of
international agencies like the World Bank, UNDP and OECD and of individual governments. This obstructs
reasoned identification of both the distribution of the problem and priorities for policy.
4
The problem was understood long ago. “No concept of income can be really equitable that stops short of the
comprehensive definition which embraces all receipts which increase an individual’s command over the use of
society’s scarce resources – in other words his ‘net accretion of economic power between two points of time.’”
Memorandum of dissent by a minority of the Royal Commission on Taxation, Report of the Royal Commission on
Taxation, Cmnd. 9474, 1955, p8.

5
! what share they can be presumed to have of the remaining household resources that are spent
for the joint benefit of all members of the household.

The UN has recently produced detailed guidance on the measurement of the components of total
household income (Canberra Group, 2001). However, this guidance relates to the household as a
whole or the adults within households. There has, unfortunately, been little scientific work on how
the total incomes or consumption of children should be measured.

Continuing attempts to get closer to reliable data for children will help to refine the crude attempts to
apportion income rights ‘per capita’ or by means of other procedures of ‘equivalisation’.
‘Equivalisation’ is not a necessary part of poverty measurement - as is often supposed. If external
criteria have to be invoked to decide the poverty line of income or resources generally for
households, then those criteria apply to different types of household, including the number and
characteristics of children within them.

It is not currently known how to measure either child income or child expenditure on a global scale.
The question has not attracted searching and sustained examination. We hope that new work can be
undertaken. In the meantime, we are presenting an alternative (or complementary) approach. The
remaining chapters of this report demonstrate that different forms of child deprivation can be
measured consistently in combination to show the extent of multiple and severe deprivation. In
future, these data may be correlated with present information about the distribution of income and
expenditure (see Chapter 6).

Linking child rights to the measurement of child deprivation

As discussed previously, an objective of this report is to distinguish child poverty from adult poverty
and to formulate a more accurate measurement of child poverty in the developing regions of the
world. This has been argued in general terms and will be set out technically and empirically in this
report. It is suggested that the core of the meaning of poverty must be “insufficient resources”. This
research represents a significant advance in identifying and measuring the material and social
deprivation of children. However, child income and expenditure and the resources in kind that they
receive and use also need sustained attention. This research has successfully measured some of the
resources available to children (using direct measures) but has not been able to express these
resources in monetary terms.

By contrast, with the lack of information on children’s total incomes, there exists a large body of data
for different countries on child deprivation. Many of the data have been brought into being as a
result of the introduction of the CRC. Therefore, a rights-based formulation of children’s multiple
deprivation becomes a distinct scientific possibility and has attracted enthusiasm elsewhere5. Our
belief is that the data can be used to develop a coherent body of indicators of multiple child
deprivation that, in itself, offers objective and acceptable criteria for the determination of poverty
lines. This will allow trends in child poverty and severe or extreme poverty to be tracked more
accurately - and more convincingly - among developing countries.

Pressure for this to be done comes from growing public concern not just about the huge extent of
persisting child poverty but about non-fulfilment of the rights of the child. The international history
of both problems is more closely linked than often supposed.

5
See, in particular, Van Genugten and Perez-Bustillo (2001) and Jochnick (2001).

6
Does the fulfilment of child rights include children’s development?
By any intellectual standards, the stream of work on human rights embodies concepts of poverty
eradication and human development despite the fact that each of the three concepts has been
examined and elaborated separately in a large number of studies and by different organisations. It
may be time to recognise that the three areas of work have been kept artificially distinct and should
be brought closer together, with human rights providing the distinctive umbrella. The three concepts
need to be linked more explicitly than has so far been attempted. Separate exposition and analysis
implies differently prioritised programmes of action, however, in meaning and, it must be added,
operational specification, they are found to overlap. Clarifications of that belief and of questions of
focus and emphasis, urgently require resolution.

At the turn of the century, attempts were made to clarify the relationship between rights and
development – for example, in the work of UNICEF and UNDP. The encouragement of human
development and fulfilment of human rights represents a common commitment to promote the
freedom, well-being, dignity and quality of life of individuals in all societies. The two can be said to
be compatible but also sufficiently distinct for each to offer something substantial to the other.

“If human development focuses on the enhancement and the capabilities and freedoms that the
members of a community enjoy, human rights represent the claims that individuals have on the
conduct of individual and collective agents and on the design of social arrangements to facilitate or
secure these capabilities and freedoms.” (UNDP, 2000, p20)6

In the Human Development Report for 2000, which takes human rights as its theme, the two concepts
of human rights and human development are distinguished and are said to enrich each other.
However, the argument is muted and is not perhaps appreciative of the gathering force and sheer
range of the concept of human rights. Thus, UNDP acknowledges that “to have a particular right is
to have a claim on other people or institutions that they should help or collaborate in ensuring
access to some freedom. This insistence on a claim on others takes us beyond the idea of human
development." (ibid, p21). However, elaboration of what sorts of duties or responsibilities are placed
on ‘other people or institutions’ (especially the latter) and how this might redress the unnecessarily
dominant individualism of the human development approach, as well as its ducking of ‘cause’ and of
complementary information about ‘mal-development’, is not explored. Although some linkage
between the two concepts is accepted, the true potentialities of that linkage are not seized. All that is
conceded is that the human rights approach "may offer an additional and very useful perspective for
the analysis of human development." (Our emphasis, ibid, p21.)

This seems to claim too much for the concept of human development or at least its conventional
interpretation. ‘Human development’ is a term that implies progress and represents necessary or
actual evolution. In the way that it is used, the term tends to be short on history and on cause. In
predominant measure, it tends to be interpreted as a process of building on present conditions (and
therefore inequalities) without appraisal of lessons learned from retrospective analysis of how the
distribution of world conditions came about. ‘Rights’ can only be taken seriously in a world where
there are manifest wrongs. By contrast, ‘development’ does not carry the same connotations of
remedying negative outcomes and forces. For example, the invention of the concept of
‘underdevelopment’ was motivated deliberately in the 1970s to call attention to the one-sided
meaning that had come to be attached conventionally to ‘development’. Another historical - as well
as contemporary - example of the exclusion of negatives from the usage of the term is in the linkages

6
The chapter in the report from which this quotation is taken is attributed to the Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen.

7
made with economic ‘growth’. Development and growth have been assumed to be bed-fellows and
one is generally supposed not to take place without the other.

Again, in the international work going on into human development, measures of economic growth
and poverty do not take sufficient account of the ravages of war and the costs of deforestation, global
warming and pollution. Nor is unpaid work, production or care, especially by women, built
quantitatively into the equation. The causes of poverty and material and social deprivation are not
sought in the collection of cumulative evidence of the initiation and sustainability of violence.
Neither is the ‘universality’ of rights reflected in the choice of social and economic indicators –
particularly of poverty. These ideas lie behind the research reported here. They help to explain why
human development might be treated largely as an element lying within the wider human rights
framework rather than as a separate or more compelling strategic objective. They also help to
explain why the investigation and resolution of child poverty has been cast in these pages within the
framework of the CRC.

If ‘human development’ implies progress and necessary or actual evolution then ‘human rights’
implies a set of ideals or end results and therefore highlights the huge strides that have to be taken to
surmount or improve contemporary conditions. ‘Human rights’ incorporates a set of standards of
human behaviour that are expressed authoritatively rather than left implicit – even if their exact
meaning in relation to events in different countries remains to be clarified. This difference in the
treatment of the concepts is not highlighted, for example, in the UNDP’s Human Development
Report for 2000. Compared with ‘human development,’ ‘human rights’ tends to be treated as a more
extensive multi-disciplinary concept – within which important elements of meaning, like social
inclusion and personal freedom as well as human development may largely, if not comprehensively,
be located. It is also the case that instruments of ‘human rights’ have been endorsed formally by
nearly all governments.

There are many ways in which a scientific approach that integrates the two concepts of human
development and human rights might be specified and made practical. Both streams of work would
gain. For example, one of the problems for the relationship between child rights and development is
the need to strike a better balance in both between civil and political rights on the one hand and
social and economic rights on the other. “While the discussion on rights has tended to emphasise
civil and political rights that on human development has tended to portray economic and social
conditions - for example in the application of the human development index.” (ibid, p20). This may
explain the existence of separate sets of ‘practitioners’ for each of the two concepts, rather than those
whose job it is to represent the overlapping percentage of work and the extent to which co-ordination
is needed to improve assessments of outcome. Human rights plainly include economic and social
rights as well as civil and political rights.

Does the instrument of child rights provide a legal framework for poverty reduction?
Some human rights specialists go a lot further than even imaginative international agencies like
UNDP in showing the anti-poverty potentialities of the gathering momentum of world-wide interest
in human rights. One authority in international law writes: "International human rights instruments
provide a legal framework for poverty reduction strategies…. The language of human rights covers
some of the multidimensional experiences of poverty, for example the loss of personal space and
security, and erosion of individual freedoms of movement and of expression…[Poverty] is the very
antithesis of the human right to development…. Denial of human rights is both a cause and a
consequence of poverty. Poverty constitutes in itself a denial of fundamental human rights and a
barrier to the enjoyment of all other human rights. A human rights shortfall is an obstacle to the
eradication of poverty" (Chinkin, 2002).

8
Chinkin argues that, by means of international law, the framework for entitlements, the language for
the presentation of claims and national and international machinery for their determination should be
integrated into the various strategies of poverty eradication.7 Examples of these strategies would
include "the transfer of resources, access to non-exploitative micro-credit, and the reduction of
military expenditures" (ibid, p587). The great virtue of this argument for an enlarged role for
international law is that ‘resources’ (including income) are re-affirmed as comprising the core of the
definition and measurement of child poverty and, therefore, as the element that has to be properly
institutionalised in every strategy concerned with defeating poverty. Whilst there is deepening
concern across the world about the growing inequality of resources, substantial redistribution of
these resources has not become a feature of current international strategy. Yet there are compelling
arguments for stronger international taxation and international company law, as well as for fairer
world trade, all of which can only be developed within a stronger ‘rule of law’ consensus if there is
to be the smallest chance of fulfilling the UN's millennium goal of halving world poverty by 2015.

How can non-fulfilment of child rights and the persistence and growth of child poverty be linked?
Since 1989, UNICEF has steered the consideration and development of indicators of child rights (for
example, see UNICEF, 1998a; 2002c). The need for accurate and reliable global monitoring is a
high priority. The value of clarifying the links between child poverty and child rights can be
illustrated by the current range of indicators monitoring progress. How might indicators of child
poverty and trends in poverty be developed in relation to Article 27 of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child: "States Parties recognise the right of every child to a standard of living
adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development?" Article 26
provides a complementary fundamental right of the child to social security and other articles refer to
related rights to material facilities and basic social services.

The CRC gives children the rights to survive, develop, participate and be protected. As cited above,
there are Articles in the Convention and in the Universal Declaration that specify access to an
adequate standard of living and to social security as fundamental rights. Other Articles cover
freedom from different aspects of material and social deprivation. ‘Survival’, ‘development’,
‘participation’ and ‘protection’ themselves imply minimal standards of food, safe drinking water and
other goods and facilities, like health and education that are basic to both physical and social growth.

The concept of poverty must necessarily embody lack of access to such rights and can be defined
usefully, we argue, in relation to these rights, so that estimates of child poverty may be constructed
on the basis of access to a number of specific economic and social rights. Thus, direct and indirect
indicators like per cent of population below the national and international poverty lines, GDP per
capita of the poorest 20%, infant and child mortality rates, low birth-weight rate, per cent of one-
year-olds fully immunised, per cent of children not reaching Grade 5, daily per capita rate of calories
intake, per cent access to safe drinking water and sanitation and ante-natal care received provide
illustrations of the data that were examined in preparing this report.

A number of the Articles of the CRC express fundamental rights to freedom from deprivation.
Survey data - especially the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster
Surveys (MICS) - can be used to show how many children have - and do not have - these rights
fulfilled. This provides the basis for the remainder of this report and will be explained step by step.

7
A human rights approach to poverty reduction has been argued by other recent commentators. In a report prepared for
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, poverty reduction strategies were formulated and
explained in relation to specific rights (see Hunt et al (2002).

9
However, the CRC also lists the fundamental rights to an ‘adequate’ standard of living and to ‘social
security’. Operational definitions of these rights need to be developed urgently for children. This
means seeking ‘direct’ indicators or measures of child poverty, in the sense that they apply to the
children in families and households to which they belong, rather than seeking ‘indirect’ measures
that apply to the adults in those families and households, on the unexamined assumption that children
have an equal share of total household income or living standards or have a share proportionate to
their needs. While many children do indeed experience conditions that reflect the conditions of their
families as a whole, there are some who get distinctly less, or more, than a ‘fair’ share. By
recommending more direct assessment of child living conditions and their income and expenditure,
the possibilities of defining what may be for them “an adequate income” or a right to “social
security” can be linked with direct measures for their assistance8. Although strong arguments can be
put forward for the collection of better information about children’s standard of living and income
this information, alas, is not currently available.

However, reliable information is available on children’s standard of living which has been used in
this report to develop a measure of severe deprivation of basic human need for children, in order to
directly measure the extent of child poverty in developing countries. We show that a sufficient
indicator, or combination of indicators, can be assigned for each of seven separate criteria of
deprivation of basic human need and these can be validly and reliably combined into a single index.
Data are available, thanks especially to the DHS, for a large number of countries. We believe this is
an important step in clarifying the extent and severity of child poverty in developing countries.

8
See the proposed international child allowance, Townsend and Gordon (2002) pp368 and 425-426.

10
 Chapter 2

Relationship between Child Poverty and Child Rights

“I am often asked what is the most serious form of human rights violation in the world today and my
reply is consistent: extreme poverty.”
(Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2002)

Introduction
This chapter explains how the child rights framework might be used to measure child poverty. It is
followed by Chapter 3 which describes the operational measure used to construct cross-national
evidence of the distribution of poverty and the results of applying that measure.

In preparing a reliable but also widely acceptable measure of poverty in relation to the framework of
child rights, two problems have to be understood. The first is that, although the Convention on the
Rights of the Child lays down aims that have attracted near-universal support, each one of them is
expressed in terms that in practice need to be clarified for purposes of interpretation and action. The
second is that the aims are expressed in a large number of Articles in the Convention and need to be
grouped or clustered for purposes, whether scientific or political, of concerting strategy, deciding
priorities and therefore policies and organising ways of monitoring progress. These two problems
will be illustrated below. Later in the chapter the principles of the methods used to develop a set of
indicators will be discussed.

Using rights to measure child poverty (1) the problem of clarifying specific rights
Following the adoption of the Universal Charter of Human Rights and of other instruments of human
rights by the international community, the decision to agree a complementary instrument in the
interests of children in 1989 represented an historical turning point. The comprehensive range of
aims adopted and the near-unanimity of agreement among nation states is impressive and lends
authority to all subsequent work. Differences of interpretation between governments and
reservations attached were of course left at the time for later clarification and action on detail by
combinations of international and national political representatives.

Like the other instruments of human rights, the CRC imposes moral imperatives that can help to
overcome particular disagreements about necessary action by governments and other institutions.
For example, the social theorist Zygmunt Bauman insists that there is a moral imperative laid upon
everyone to engage with the tools for achieving human justice that fortuitously have become
available. Via the 1989 Convention, governments and others are presented with a list of duties that
they are expected to honour. This has led some to distinguish ‘perfect’ from ‘imperfect’ duties
(UNDP, 2000). The formulation of rights in different Charters and Conventions does not address the
issues of how duties are to be discharged or the extent to which those duties can be discharged. The
formulation conveys an ‘all-or-nothing’ command. Either the duties are honoured or they are not.
There is no in-between. The continuum of satisfaction of the different rights that exist in reality is
sometimes ignored when governments and international bodies who are culpable for denying rights
are expected to fulfil their duty. As Bauman succinctly writes:

11
“In a world of global dependencies with no corresponding global polity and few tools of global
justice, the rich of the world are free to pursue their own interests while paying no attention to the
rest…the issue of a universal right to a secure and dignified life, and so to universal (truly
cosmopolitan) standards of justice, must be confronted point blank before the subtleties of cultural
choices may come into their own.” (Bauman, 2001)

Bauman’s objective is to secure the most basic human needs by calculated and persistent use of the
‘few tools of global justice’ available to governments and international bodies as well as to
imaginative social scientists and lawyers - human rights conventions9. The fulfilment of rights
necessarily depends on calculations of the human needs that have to be met. However, while the
formulation of rights carries with it a near-consensus about duty and mission – little short of the
authority of international law - there remains the element of ambiguity about the precise detail of
each right that is to be observed. Satisfaction of rights depends on full discussion and resolution of
specific meaning as well as on appropriate policies and action.

The distinction between perfect and imperfect duties helps to turn attention from an unquestionable
or absolute division between right and wrong to the finely graded conditions or situations that exist
in everyday life – and hence the relative or proportionate fulfilment of duty. In accepting that
children have a number of rights, attention can be called to the actual conditions they experience and
therefore what need they have to secure those rights.

As discussed in Chapter 1, the needs of children have to be distinguished from those of adults. For
example, Lansdown (1998) identifies the following needs:

• children are people who have to be accorded equal status to adults;

• children’s healthy development and civil participation are integral to the creation of
successful countries;
• children are particularly vulnerable as a consequence of their development and dependence;
• children are disproportionately affected by the activities and omissions of government, due to
their reliance upon public services;
• and children are universally excluded from participation in political processes.

The relevance of perfect and imperfect duties in simultaneously satisfying children’s needs and rights
can be illustrated by different Articles of the Convention. Thus, Article 28(1)(a) of the CRC is clear
that states should “make primary education compulsory and available free to all”. Hence, to
measure the provision of free primary educational attendance is, in principle, a relatively simple
exercise, providing a clear deprivation indicator to demonstrate a state’s infringement of the
Convention. Such an indicator would be the percentage of the relevant age groups not in primary
education. However, some hard questions remain. As Casas (1997, p288) notes, the social scientist
must be cautious when creating lists of indicators to consider the “different practical interpretations,
depending on historical, cultural, and conceptual contextualisations”. Hence, there are degrees
among countries in the satisfaction of ‘compulsion’ – by age, gender, ethnicity and area – and in the
degrees of ‘primary education’ provided. However, this example of access to primary education
suggests that some rights lend themselves better than others to measurement and implementation.

9
This is a view supported by Mary Robinson, when UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a speech to the World
Summit 2002 in Johannesburg: “a human rights approach adds value because it provides a normative framework
of obligations that has the legal power to render governments accountable”. (Robinson, 29/8/02)

12
Rights that appear to be more ambiguously expressed encourage signatories of the CRC to plead
‘imperfect’ duties and absolve themselves of the responsibility of honouring the clear intentions of
the Convention. For example, Article 26(1) of the Convention states that:

“State Parties shall recognise for every child the right to benefit from social security, including
social insurance, and shall take the necessary measures to achieve the full realisation of this right in
accordance with their national law.”

Whilst the Convention clearly seeks to promote the notion that a state should provide a social
security safety net for children, it does not provide detail on the form of systems a state should seek
to comply with. However, other instruments of human rights can be quoted in support. The
International Labour Convention No 102, the Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention
(SSC) contains a very detailed vision of the requirements for welfare. Although only 40 states have
ratified the SSC, it was adopted by the Council of Europe in Article 12 of the European Social
Charter and, whilst it does not have the near universal ratification of the CRC, the SSC has
signatories from all continents and is one of the tenets of the European Union. In the context of this
chapter, the SSC makes provision for family benefit (Articles 39-44) for the ‘maintenance of
children’, a maternity benefit (Articles 46-52) and a survivors’ benefit (Articles 59-64). The
Convention is quite specific on issues of rates of qualification and eligibility which should be
achieved by each state and the rates for each benefit. For instance, for Family Benefit, the SSC
stipulates that the total value of the benefits granted should be:

“(a) 3 per cent of the wage of an ordinary adult male labourer, as determined in accordance with the
rules laid down in article 66, multiplied by the total number of children of persons protected; or (b)
1.5 percent of the said wage, multiplied by the total number of children of all residents.”

Whilst the adequacy of these provisions may be debated, this should not obscure the fact that such
supplementary instruments are important tools not just for the clarification - but also the
implementation - of rights. This is an example of the ways of clarifying particular Articles of the
Convention of greatest relevance to the eradication of child poverty.

For developing countries, it is difficult to reconcile the fundamental right to social security,
expressed in Article 26, and the right to a adequate standard of living, expressed in Article 27, with
many of the measures introduced in the 1980s and 1990s under the rubric of ‘Structural Adjustment
Programmes’. Access to public social services like health and social insurance was often restricted
and expenditure cut, on the pretext that private provision would be an effective substitute.

The examples given show that rights in the CRC require extensive elaboration of precise meaning
but also usually involve identification of a threshold drawn at some point on a continuum from
extreme non-fulfilment to more than generous fulfilment. Another example of this process is Article
12 on the right to health of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(ICESCR) - especially General Comment 14, specifying states’ obligations and the development of
performance indicators. Under paragraphs 43 and 44 of Comment 14, the ICESCR lists core
obligations to satisfy minimal enjoyment of the right to health. These include: ‘to ensure the right of
access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for
vulnerable or marginalized groups’; ‘to ensure access to the minimum essential food which is
nutritionally adequate and safe, to ensure freedom from hunger to everyone’; and ‘to ensure access
to basic shelter, housing and sanitation, and an adequate supply of safe and potable water’. This
elaboration of meaning illustrates the range of factors that have to be investigated and satisfied in
guaranteeing a particular right but also opens up further ambiguities that invite clarification. Thus,

13
access to facilities, for example, could be measured in distance, in time, or in economic terms and the
nature of what health facilities are acceptable remains to be specified. However, accepting that
different criteria of health can properly be applied, it is evident that fulfilment or violation of health,
when assessed and ‘measured’, is likely to lie on a continuum between two extremes – for
individuals, populations and countries.

If absolute poverty is to be measured, then threshold measures of severe deprivation of basic human
needs can be developed. In Chapter 3, threshold measures for the severe deprivation of the following
basic human needs: food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, access to information, education,
health and shelter will be defined. These needs are reflected successively in CRC Articles 13, 17, 24,
27 and 28, although the Convention does not specify in each case what constitutes mild, moderate,
severe or extreme deprivation.

An example of such an operationalisation can be found in the goals announced at the World Summit
for Children 1990, which sought to implement the aspirations contained in the CRC. As a
consequence of this agreement, UNICEF undertook the task of assisting countries with appropriate
surveys. These Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) conducted by each country have allowed
a comprehensive list of indicators to be developed to monitor progress in relation to these goals.
These surveys and the indicators they deploy are located within a global consensus upon the manner
in which the aspirations of the CRC should be achieved.

Using rights to measure child poverty (2) the problem of clustering rights
Arranging some of the Articles of the Convention into groups or clusters can be justified on various
grounds: for example, seeking causal links to maximise strategies to reduce violations; exploring the
extent to which action in relation to one Article in the Convention necessarily assists the realisation
of other Articles; ordering the different Articles to allow related issues to be examined; or developing
programmes of action to be introduced by stages. The idea of the ‘clusters’ may also be useful in
advocating broadly based but targeted strategies to bring about a reduction in the severity or number
of violations more quickly than would otherwise be the case.

The particular value of organising CRC Articles into clusters is to explore, or confirm, the extent to
which success in reducing one unsatisfied human right spills over into success in reducing other
unsatisfied rights. The authors of the present report have adopted this approach10. Rights can be
examined separately in turn, as discussed above. This has all the professed advantages of selective
action: concentrating energies and assembling information on one problem and ignoring the
ramifications that affect other problems for the sake of speed and the justifiable use of limited
resources. However, facing up to multiple and interconnected problems is the reality that has to be
understood. It could be seriously disadvantageous to deny information on the likely knock-on
consequences for other rights. A sense of proportion and the identification of priorities can only
proceed in the context of demonstrating interrelationships between certain rights and categorising
those that are closely linked. Any programme of investigation or action would be necessarily larger
and more complicated, as well as more costly, and perhaps controversial, than the ‘particularistic’
alternative. Problems in widening the strategy must of course be anticipated but we consider that this
‘grouping’ is the right methodological or scientific course to take.

10
An approach shared by others, such as Ennew and Miljeteig (1996, p222) who have recognised the need for clusters of
indicators to capture the range of rights covered in complex articles.

14
It will never be easy to obtain agreement on the grouping or categorisation of some rights in
distinction from others but there are precedents in the steps that different international bodies – for
example, UNICEF itself (in its work on indicators, and the Committee on the International Covenant,
in its organisation of commentaries) - have taken. It is better to proceed with the task of seeking to
reconcile scientific and democratic support so that realistic conclusions may be drawn about both
specific rights and sets of rights that are related.

A precedent for organising rights into appropriate clusters is provided by the work of the Committee
on the Rights of Child, which symbolises the diverse nature of the Convention and the safeguards it
provides. All signatory states, under Article 44(1) of the CRC, are obliged to report to the
Committee within two years of signing the Convention and thereafter every five years. These reports
help to show both the progress made in the implementation of the Convention and the difficulties as
well as transgressions that are arising in the process. They provide a substantial audit of the rights of
children that mirrors the intentions of the Convention. Countries are required to provide wide-
ranging information upon: implementation, the definition of the child and the application of general
principles11.

Of particular interest to the approach we are taking in this report, is the Committee’s clustering of the
remaining rights in the Convention into specific thematic categories. Hence, countries are required
to collect information on the following categories: civil rights and freedoms; family environment and
alternative care; basic health and welfare; education, leisure and cultural activities; and special
protection measures. It cannot be disputed that these reports offer a vital source for the development
of general indicators of rights and this can be seen in their application to our categories in Table 2.1.
However, they are problematic once attention is paid to the measure of child poverty. The
Committee’s clusters do not correspond with those required to relate to a multiple deprivation or
poverty index. However, scrutiny of the Articles in the Convention demonstrates the fact that a
number of them deal with different elements of material and social deprivation and two of them deal
with very low income. In relation to the millennium goals now expressed by the UN (and the anti-
poverty goals expressed separately by a number of international agencies and governments) we
would therefore recommend that, in its future work, the Committee will find it possible to extend its
analysis of clustered rights accordingly.

Planning by stages: 1) The use of existing indicators

In applying the child rights framework, we decided on two stages of work – first, to review what
could be done with existing statistical indicators already available, and second, to build new
indicators from survey data recently becoming available from country-wide studies sponsored by
international agencies such as UNICEF. As a first step, therefore, indicators that were patently
related to child rights - derived from existing sources (especially the statistical handbooks of the
World Bank, the UN, UNDP, WHO and other international agencies) - were organised into clusters
according to common criteria (see also Gordon et al, 2001).

Rights from the CRC were grouped together to produce a list of direct or indirect indicators whereby
the fulfilment/non fulfilment of rights could be determined12. This is set out in Table 2.1.

11
These include: i) Non discrimination (Article 2); ii) Best interests of the child (Article 3); (iii) The right to life, survival
and development; (iv) Respect for the views of the child (Article 12).
12
This approach is similar to that adopted by UNICEF from the ‘Indicators for global monitoring of child rights’
conference held in Geneva (UNICEF, 1998a) in that we have sought to collect indicators of child rights clusters.

15
Table 2.1: How rights from Articles in the Convention on the Rights of the Child can be
clustered, with possible indicators13

Rights Cluster Examples of Possible Indicators

Rights of freedom of expression and thought and to
exchange information and ideas [Articles 13 and 14]
Right of access to information in the media ad Percentage of children and mothers with access to
books to promote social and mental well-being or possession of information mediums.
[Articles 13 and 17] Source: Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS).
Right to protective measures against violence, Number of children economically active. Source:
maltreatment, injury, exploitation, abuse, including International Labour Office.14
sexual abuse, illicit drugs and deprivation [Articles
19, 20, 32, 33, 34 and 37]
Rights in disablement of assistance for special needs
and actively participate in community life [Article
23]
Right to highest attainable standard of health and Percentage of children immunised; Percentage of
access to adequate nutritious foods, clean drinking untreated incidents of diarrhoea and the form of
water, pollution free environment and preventive treatment received; Percentage of malnourished
and curative health care services [Article 24] children. Sources: DHS and MICS
Right to benefit from social security, incl. Social Percentage of population protected by family
insurance [Article 26] benefits. Sources: ILO15
Right to standard of living adequate for physical,
mental, spiritual, moral and social development and
material assistance and support programmes –
particularly for nutrition, clothing and housing
[Article 27]
Right to free primary education and where Number of children between 7-18 years who have
appropriate free secondary education to enlarge not received any primary or secondary education.
access to education [Article 28] Source: DHS
Proportion of children aged 10-12 years reaching a
specific level of learning achievement in literacy
numeracy and life skills. Source: MICS

Right to recreational activities and full participation

[Article 31]
Right to measures promoting recovery and social Percentage of under eighteens in armed force.
integration following neglect, abuse, exploitation, Source: Save the children database16
suffering in armed conflict, torture or other
degrading treatment. [Article 39]

At the first stage of the work, using only existing cross-national statistical data published by the
leading international agencies, we constructed an index of 10 (later amalgamated to seven) indicators

13
The purpose of Table 2.1 is to demonstrate the diverse nature of the Convention and how rights can be clustered (with
illustrations of indicators of compliance or fulfilment). Table 2.2 below develops this by specifying those rights
which can be measured in relation to material and social deprivation and, hence, poverty.
14
Data is given for regions. Source:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/decl/download/global3/part1chapter2.pdf
15
Data coverage of nations is incomplete.
16
Data coverage of nations is incomplete. Source:
http://www.rb.se:8082/www/childwar.nsf/HTML/Forsta?OpenDocument

16
of child rights17. Table 2.1 illustrates the nature of ‘clustering’. It also illustrates those articles
having common relevance to deprivation and poverty. As an increasing number of operational
indicators for articles of human rights are introduced in future years, it will become possible to draw
a clearer picture between universal and anti-poverty rights. This must be an international objective –
combining theoretical and empirical needs. For the present, it is easier to justify (which we do) the
construction of an index of ‘child poverty’ than one of ‘child rights’.

One problem with many existing indicators is that they are too often indirect, in the sense that they
apply to households or families as a whole, and not directly to children. Such data as are available
for children are often extremely limited and unrepresentative. The MICS offers a more direct and
representative set of data, though this approach to comparative measurement will need to be checked
and examined by other scientists and, in time, improvements both in the surveys and the analysis will
be necessary.

Planning by stages: 2) The use of existing indicators to measure child rights and child poverty
This UNICEF research project offers a new analysis of the DHS data, on the basis of the agreed
rights of the child, to shed light on the comparative extent and severity of child poverty. The
analysis, examining 46 national data sets, was necessarily a lengthy process. Table 2.2 summarises
the approach adopted in this report to cluster CRC rights related to severe deprivation among
children – with their relevant indicators. In doing this, it was found that a distinction could be made
more sharply between child deprivation and the non-fulfilment of child rights generally and that the
measurement of deprivation (by means both of existing but also new indicators) offered a
breakthrough in establishing an acceptable and coherent means of identifying and measuring child
poverty. At this stage, it was less easy to prioritise child rights generally or to construct a
representative index – because of ambiguities of meaning, fragmentary information from
unrepresentative or highly restricted indicators and serious problems of comparability of data and of
the conception of certain rights.

Table 2.2 concentrates on those child rights most relevant to the elimination of severe child
deprivation. The deprivation index used in this study has been drawn from information about
unfulfilled rights in the CRC. There is of course the conceptual problem that, in Human Rights
Charters and Conventions, rights either exist or not – graduation between extremes is not considered.
However, it was considered that agreement could be reached about a threshold of ‘severe’ forms of
deprivation – that can be reflected in the choice and combination of indicators (illustrated in Gordon,
2002, p70). In choosing this threshold, it was felt that this indisputably represented the level of
unfulfilled needs which the signatories to the CRC would have envisaged the Convention to serve
against. The needs contained in the deprivation index are the most basic human needs for survival
and autonomy and, consequently, overcome severe deprivation. The identification of severe
deprivation seemed the suitable starting point.

17
Ennew and Miljeteig (1996, p221) note that one of the difficulties with developing indicators of child rights is the fact
that children are only studied in ‘respect to the institutions of childhood, such as school and families’, which
neglects, for instance, their exploitation economically and sexually.

17
 Table 2.2: Categorisation of child rights relevant to the eradication of child poverty and/or
multiple deprivation

Form of Severe Indicators CRC Article/ Rights/ NIGERIA INDIA

Deprivation Deprivation Right Indicators % of % of
(criteria selected) Infringed children children
deprived/ deprived/
(total (total
number of number of
children) children)
Food Malnutrition Severe 24 (2) (c) ‘imperfect/ 15.8% 26.2%
Anthropometric HEALTH indirect’ (2.5m) (27.6m)
Failure in children
under 5 (stunting,
underweight, and
wasting at <-3
standard
deviations from
reference
population
median)
Safe drinking Long Walk to Over 15 min to 24 (2) (e) ‘imperfect/ 44.2% 19.3%
water water (more than water or surface HEALTH indirect’ (23.8m) (76.4m)
200 meters) water
which is
occasionally
polluted
Sanitation No sanitation No sanitation 24 (2) (c) ‘median’ 25.9% 68.1%
Facilities facilities in or facility HEALTH (13.9m) (269.5m)
near dwelling (no toilet, pit
latrine etc)
Health Health facilities No immunisation 24 (1)/(2)(c) ‘imperfect/ 39.3% 21.5%
more than 1 hours or untreated HEALTH indirect’ (21.1m) (85.1m)
travel away. No diarrhoea
immunisation
against diseases.
Shelter No facilities, non Mud flooring or 27 (3) ‘imperfect/ 46.5% 42.4%
perm. Bldg, no over five people STANDARD OF indirect’ (25.0m) (167.8m)
privacy, no per room LIVING
flooring, one or
two rooms. 5+ per
room
Education Unable to attend Child between 7- 28 (1) (a)/(b) ‘perfect/ 22.1% 15.6%
primary or 18 years and not EDUCATION direct’ (6.7m) (37.5m)
secondary currently in
education school or not
received any
education
Information No access to Combination of 13/17 ‘perfect/ 25.2% 39.7%
radio, television (i) Information INFORMATION direct’ (13.6m) (157.1m)
or books or access – If mother
newspapers. listened to radio
in last week or
read newspaper or
watched TV. (ii)
Information
possession – of a
TV or radio

18
Table 2.2 also shows that indicators of rights may represent perfect or imperfect duties - as well as
apply directly or indirectly to children - affecting the use that can be made of them. Some rights are
more prescriptive than others, containing ‘perfect/imperfect’ duties, hence some rights and their
corresponding indicators represent a better match than others. The indicators can be ranged from
those gathered at the ‘perfect/direct’ point through to those at the ‘imperfect/indirect’ point. The
‘perfect/direct’ point is characterised by a right which has a prescriptive quality and an indicator
which is capable of quantifying the essence of the duty. This category requires a minimal level of
interpretation.

An example of a rights/indicator closest to the ‘perfect/direct’ point is that of education. Article 28

establishes “the right of the child to education” and progresses to specify “primary education
compulsory and available free to all” and “the development of different forms of secondary
education, make them available and accessible to every child…”. As a theoretical measure of this
right, the severe deprivation indicator ‘unable to attend primary or secondary education’ provides a
close measure of the prescribed components of the Article. Consequently, the indicators used in the
study to determine severe deprivation of education of non-attendance and non-receipt of education
offer a close estimate of the levels of the fulfilment of the right.

Indicators could also be derived from the UNICEF MICS surveys. In the case of education, in the
MICS2 surveys, UNICEF developed the ‘Learning achievement’ and ‘Literacy rate’ indicators,
which serve to address the question of the quality of education children are receiving (UNICEF,
2002a, Annex 1). Only through a cluster of indicators such as these, can the social scientist begin to
suggest successful policy strategies. However, one of the limitations of this approach is the restricted
nature of the data collected under MICS in terms of the scope of child rights. An example of this and
relevant to this point of the continuum, is the absence of MICS indicators (and, consequently, data)
on information provision (unrelated to health).

Table 2.2 also illustrates possible use of a ‘median’ point on the rights/indicator continuum. Article
24 contains “the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health”. It
is proposed in accordance with this right that states should “combat disease and malnutrition…the
application of readily available technology”. Whilst there is no direct reference to the provision of
sanitation facilities, it is indisputable that poor sanitation is linked to the spread of disease and this
should be inferred to be one of the strategies/technologies the Article believes would serve to combat
disease. In this situation, support for an interpretation should be sought from supporting authorities.
Such an example exists in the UNICEF publication, Sanitation and Hygiene: A Right for Every Child
(UNICEF, 1998b). Once this is established, then the indicator used in the case of severe deprivation
of ‘no sanitation facilities in or near the dwelling’ would appear to contravene the infrastructure with
which the CRC envisages to promote rights of the child to health.

The distinction which will be drawn between median and ‘imperfect/indirect’ is that, whilst the
Article contains few descriptive elements, the indicator in the median cluster remains direct in
nature. With direct indicators, it would appear to be a safe assumption that, if a child does not have
access to proper sanitation facilities in or near their dwelling, this is an appropriate measure of non-
fulfilment of this right. This approach is supported by a similar indicator which has been used by
UNICEF to measure the goal set at the World Summit for universal access to sanitary means of
excreta disposal. It has sought to measure the proportion of the population who have, within their
dwelling or compound, a flush toilet, pit latrine or toilet connected to a sewage system (UNICEF,
2002a).

19
Table 2.2 also illustrates the ‘imperfect/indirect’ point of the continuum. It is of little surprise that, in
the more ambiguous articles of the Convention, the indicators become increasingly indirect. Article
24 (as outlined above) cites that states employ a number of measures, including 2(c) “to combat
disease and malnutrition…through the provision of adequate nutritious foods”. This clearly
identifies malnutrition as an infringement of the “right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest
attainable standard of health”, yet what constitutes malnutrition which is not specified in the Article
and is contested (clearly more contested than the quantification of a child’s attendance at primary
school). Malnutrition is discussed in greater detail in Chapter 3 and Appendix III.

The more general component of Article 24 seeks to secure the child’s right to health through the
development of the necessary services and treatment. Using the DHS data, the “routine expanded
program of immunisation”, alongside the treatment of diarrhoea, was taken as an indicator of the
protection of children against disease and illness. These indicators were chosen as an
operationalisation of the category of severe deprivation. However, the ‘imperfect/indirect’ nature of
this particular ‘right/indicator’ makes the data difficult to interpret. For instance, Article 24(1) talks
of securing the right through facilities “for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health” and,
similarly, 2(c) describes the need to “combat disease and malnutrition…within the framework of
healthcare, through…the application of readily available technology”.

Without prescribed standards, indicators of these rights have to come with caveats attached to the
question of their accuracy. This is symptomatic of this point upon the rights/indicator continuum.
One way of addressing this issue is to seek the use of indicators from other survey data. Again, the
MICS indicators are an example of data which may be used to develop a cluster of indicators which,
in turn, may help us to construct a more complex picture of right fulfilment and the direction
potential strategies might take.

Similarly, the MICS indicators can broaden clusters. In the case of health, this could encompass “the
number of under five deaths from acute respiratory infections”. However, as is often the case with
MICS, these data are only for estimation at global and regional level and are restricted to the age
group of under fives.

The larger framework of child rights

Using a normative framework, such as the CRC, as an instrument to gain political accountability for
poverty, is also important. Opportunities are offered in the various instruments of human rights to
develop comprehensive anti-poverty strategies. This has a number of advantages. It helps to focus
attention on those Articles of the CRC that are evidently at issue in achieving the millennium goal of
halving world poverty. It helps to call attention to Articles that at first sight appear to have nothing
to do with poverty but in practice turn out to be heavily implicated. It also helps to encourage
repetition of the exercise of grouping different Articles of the Convention for other objectives than
those of tracking and eradicating poverty. What we have done is by no means definitive but it
illustrates the potentialities of such an approach for research and action.

Mary Robinson, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in an address to
the World Summit in Johannesburg in 2002, placed poverty eradication as a central factor in the
achievement of human rights generally. Concluding with the words of Klaus Topfer, she
summarised this position:

20
“Certainly, the full potential of human rights cannot be realised when an increasing portion of the
world’s inhabitants find their human potential constrained by a polluted and degraded environment
and are relegated to hopelessness in extreme poverty.” (Robinson, 29/8/02)

These sentiments are reflected in the stated objectives of this UNICEF report. There is one caveat.
The CRC provides a diverse range of rights to protect children from a variety of exploitative and
oppressive situations - as illustrated in Table 2.1. Thus, Article 38 provides rights to prevent the use
of child soldiers, whilst Article 34 seeks to protect children from sexual exploitation. These are not
foremost in protecting children from poverty though they may be found to be indirectly relevant in
different ways. However, these examples illustrate the fact that the rights listed in the CRC range
much wider and are more comprehensive than the rights that may be generally considered to be most
pertinent to the problem of resolving poverty. We wish to avoid analytical ‘essentialism’ or
‘reductionism’. Whilst we intend to identify the children who suffer multiple deprivation and
poverty, we do not intend to marginalise other critical issues. Some problems may be smaller in
scale but are compelling in their intensity or immediacy. These sometimes deserve to command
attention – ahead of other priorities. Hence, our analysis is not intended to collapse issues of gender,
race, religion and disability into the category of poverty; we recognise the specificity of these
variables alongside their interrelationships with poverty.

Even if the eradication of child poverty is given pride of place in the framework of child rights, a
balance has to be struck with other priorities. Because many ‘developing’ countries are found to
have higher levels of child poverty and, as a consequence, more breaches of the CRC in respect of
deprivation than countries of the ‘developed world’, this must not lead to blanket conclusions being
drawn about these countries. The eradication of poverty fulfils a number of child rights but certainly
not all. There are, of course, respects in which poor countries compare favourably as well as
unfavourably with rich countries. For example, while there are countries in our study, such as
Mozambique and Namibia, in which far more children than in the US, for example, are found to be
denied the rights to be free from poverty, the comparison cannot be allowed to stop there. Article
37(a) stipulates that:

‘…Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without the possibility of release shall be
imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age’,

In the context of the death penalty, countries of the industrialised world are by no means immune
from criticism on some aspects of human rights – including Article 37(a). Neither Mozambique nor
Namibia contravenes this Article, as they do not have a death penalty. By contrast, since 1990, the
US has been one of only seven countries to execute prisoners for offences committed when under the
age of eighteen. It also tops the list of these seven for having executed a total of 17 children since
1990 (Amnesty International, 2002). Because of such evidence, it would be incorrect to draw the
conclusion that ‘developing countries’ are the only or worst offenders against child rights, because of
their worse record on child poverty. Rather, child rights are wide in scope and extend beyond the
remit of child poverty in this report. Moreover, as an increasing number of social scientists argue,
the apparent failure of a ‘developing country’ to fulfil its obligations has to be analysed afresh in the
context of globalisation, global social policy and the structures of international capital – as argued
earlier. In 2003, accountability has to be extended beyond national governance or sovereignty.

Conclusion
This chapter has discussed the ways in which the Convention on the Rights of the Child may be
operationalised to assist the collection of evidence about violations and at the same time allow better

21
specification of the principal objectives of international policy. We started by reviewing the recent
work of UNICEF and other bodies - which has favoured assembling child rights into clusters from
which lists of indicators may be generated. However, we found that this use of child rights remains
at an early stage of development and, moreover, had not yet been linked clearly – for example, even
by the Committee on Child Rights - to the problem of resolving child poverty. We have therefore
provided examples of grouping different Articles in the Convention for purposes of analysing
progress and constructing policy priorities. We went on to specify those rights which allow
construction of an index of multiple deprivation. Given the range of information becoming
available, we found this was the most realistic and reliable measure of child poverty.

In this chapter, our aim has therefore been to conceptualise the links between child rights and child
poverty and to single out those elements that justify the construction of a set of indicators of severe
deprivation among children. Our conclusions are:

1) the information presently available from international agencies in the form of statistical
indicators – as in their annual reports - cannot be adapted satisfactorily for the purposes of
providing a measure of child poverty that is directly relevant to children themselves and reliably
comparative across countries;

2) There are a large number of Articles of the CRC that deal with different aspects of the material
and social deprivation of children and for which information is now being collected in country
surveys (especially the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), and the Multiple Indicator
Cluster Surveys (MICS). This information can be used to construct a sound and reasonably
broad-ranging measure of child poverty;

3) The Committee on the Rights of the Child should recommend governments to give prior attention
to the cluster of multiple deprivation rights when they report progress on the fulfilment of the
Convention; and

4) The potentialities for reliable measurement of this cluster of rights to freedom from multiple
deprivation can be confirmed after specific examination of the survey information about children
that has become available in the last few years.

22
 Chapter 3

Measurement of Child Poverty and Standard of Living

Introduction
This chapter will present a brief summary of recent research on the international comparative
measurement of children’s well-being and then discuss, in greater detail, the measurement of child
poverty.

The 21st Century world is one in which a vast quantity of information on all aspects of human
existence is easily available, often via the Internet. The 1990s witnessed a revolution in the
collection of high quality statistical information about the world’s children and their families. A
range of harmonised survey instruments, such as the Living Standards and Measurement Surveys
(LSMS), the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
(MICs) have been used successfully in a large number of countries (see Gordon et al, 2001, for
discussion). However, despite these advances and increasing concern about the issue of child
poverty, there are still few analyses of the standard of living and well-being of children in developing
countries. In fact, there is a surprising lack of direct information on children per se. With the
notable exception of basic health and education statistics, much of the statistical information on
‘children’ is derived from measures of the situation of the child’s family or main carer. Children are
routinely considered as a property of their household and are assumed to share equally in its fortunes
(or misfortunes).

The international monitoring of children’s well-being

In Japan, the government routinely publishes reports on children’s situation and well-being on or
close to May 5th, or Children’s Day, which is a national public holiday. Japan has been producing
these reports on children since the 19th Century (Barnes, 2001). Unfortunately, Japan is the
exception, not the rule and most countries still do not routinely produce detailed national reports on
children’s circumstances.

In 1979, UNICEF pioneered the way for the international monitoring of children’s well-being when
it collected and published a range of indicators about the welfare of the world’s children in the first
report on the state of the world’s children (Black, 1996). The State of the World’s Children reports
have been published annually since and have proved an invaluable source of internationally
comparative information on children and their families. UNICEF also sponsored a range of
comparative studies in the 1990s to monitor children’s welfare in industrialised countries, which
produced both comparative reports (Cornia and Danziger, 1996) and specific country studies (for
example, see Bradshaw, 1990; Kumar, 1995). However, despite UNICEF’s efforts, attempts to
collect comparable international data on children in industrialised countries led to the common
conclusion that they were invisible in most countries’ systems of social accounts (Ben-Arieh, 1994;
1996). In the early 1990s, an attempt to compare children in 16 industrialised countries, led Jensen
and Saporiti (1992) to conclude that: “there was a dearth with respect to statistical data about
children”.

The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) marked a watershed not only
for the promotion of children’s rights but also for the collection and production of indicators on

23
children’s well-being. It is impossible to monitor the implementation of children’s rights without
statistical indicators on children (Ennew and Miljeteig, 1996) and the reporting requirements in the
CRC have resulted in a continued growth in the amount of information about children’s lives.

During the 1990s, the CRC has inspired a number of substantial international studies of children.
For example, in 1995, Childwatch International began a major development project on indicators on
the rights of the child with case studies in Senegal, Vietnam and Nicaragua (Ennew and Miljeteig,
1996; Casas, 1997). Similarly, both the European Observatory on National Family Policies and
European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research have produced a series of major
comparative international studies on monitoring the social situation of children in industrialised
countries in the 1990s (Ditch et al, 1998; Qvortrup, 1993; Moore, 1995; Ben-Arieh and
Wintersberger, 1997).

Results from this international research were a documentation of the change in the nature of the
indictors used to monitor children’s situation in industrialised countries. A shift was noted, from
indicators measuring ‘survival’ to indicators of ‘well-being’ and also a shift from ‘negative’
indicators to ‘positive’ indicators (Ben-Arieh, 2000).

Another result from this research was the development of ideal criteria for sets of social indicators of
child well-being (Moore, 1995; Barnes, 2001):

! Indicators should assess well-being across a broad array of outcomes behaviours and
processes.
! Age-appropriate indicators are needed from birth through adolescence and covering the
transition into adulthood.
! Indicators are needed that assess dispersion across a given measures of well-being, the
duration that children spend in a given status and which assess cumulative risk factors
experienced by children.
! Indicators should be easily and readily understood by the public
! Indicators should assess both positive and negative aspects of well-being.
! Indicators should have the same meaning in varied societal groups, within and across nations.
! Indicators should have the same meaning over time.
! Indicators should be collected now that anticipate the future and provide baseline data for
subsequent trends.
! Coverage of the population or event being monitored should be complete or very high: data
collection procedures should be rigorous and should not vary over time.
! Indicators should help track progress in meeting social goals for child well-being at the
national, state and local levels.
! Indicators should be available for relevant population sub-groups.

A range of composite indices of children’s well-being have been produced which can be used to
compare countries and regions, for example, the NIQOL 92 index of Jordan (1993) and the Kids
Count Index in the USA (Ann E Casey Foundation, 1999). These indices combine and rank a range
of indicators but they have not, as yet, found widespread acceptance. UNICEF has also developed an
Index of Social Health for use in industrialised countries which includes infant mortality, public
expenditure on education, teenage suicides and income distribution. This index is designed to

24
measure change over time of children’s situation in a country, rather than compare countries
(Miringoff and Opdyke, 1993). A more complex version of this index (the Index of Social Health of
Children and Youth), comprising eight variables, has also been used within the USA (Mirinigoff,
1990).

Income and child poverty

One of the most commonly used international indicators of ‘poverty’ for both adults and children is
the per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - or Gross National Product (GNP) - of a country.
Numerous studies use these kinds of economic activity indicators as a crude proxy for poverty (for
example, Sachs et al, 2001). Although it can be expected that the distribution of child poverty would
broadly conform with the global distribution of GDP per head, this is a very crude way in which to
measure and map child poverty. These kinds of economic statistics, derived from national accounts
data, are very crude proxy measures of the social situation and living conditions within a country. It
was inherent inadequacies of these kinds of analysis that led to the growth of the social indicators
movement in the 1960s (Bauer, 1966). There are large disparities in both income and living
conditions within most countries as well as between countries.

The revolution in volume, coverage and quality of household survey data that occurred in the 1990s
has recently allowed the analysis of income data on a global scale based upon the directly measured
income of households, rather than on their inferred incomes from national accounts (Milanovic,
2002). Analyses are so far available for both 1988 and 1993 and data for later years are currently
being assembled. It would be possible to use the global household level income data from social
surveys collected by Milanovic and his co-workers to produce a low income ‘poverty’ analysis for
households with children for the regions of the world. For example, a similar type of analysis to the
World Bank’s $1 per day poverty line could be used, based upon income rather than
expenditure/consumption. There are, however, a number of reasons why this kind of approach to
measuring child poverty in developing countries is far from ideal (see Gordon et al, 2001, for
discussion).

1) Little is known about the income/expenditure/consumption needs of children in most

developing countries and how these needs may vary by age, gender and location. Therefore,
any income or expenditure/consumption poverty threshold for children would have to be set
at an essentially arbitrary level given the current lack of knowledge about children’s needs.
In particular, the World Bank’s (1990) consumption-based poverty definition in terms of the
expenditure necessary to buy a minimum standard of nutrition is inappropriate for measuring
child poverty, particularly for young children who have low food requirements but numerous
additional basic needs that require expenditure. Many academic commentators have severely
criticised the World Bank’s $1 per day poverty threshold for not being an adequate definition
of adult’s needs in developing countries (for example, Comparative Research Programme on
Poverty, 2001). Therefore, setting an arbitrary child poverty income threshold is unjustifiable
and would likely lead to incorrect policy conclusions.

2) Household based income and expenditure/consumption ‘poverty’ analyses usually assume an

equal sharing of resources within a household. This assumption is unlikely to be correct for
many ‘poor’ and ‘rich’ households with children. In ‘poor’ families across the world, parents
often sacrifice their own needs in order to ensure that their children can have some of the
things they need (e.g. children are often allocated a disproportionate share of household
resources). Conversely, in ‘rich’ households parents may spend less than expected on young
children so as not to ‘spoil’ them.

25
3) There are many technical problems involved in using either an income or
expenditure/consumption approach to measuring child poverty in developing countries, for
example, calculating equivalent spending power of national currencies using purchasing
power parity, equivalisation by household type, controlling for infrequent, irregular or
seasonal purchases, under-reporting bias and other measurement errors, data discontinuities,
quantifying the benefits from ‘home’ production and the use of durables, etc. (see Atkinson,
1990; Goodman and Webb, 1995; Reddy and Pogge, 2002, for discussion of these issues).

4) The extent of child poverty is not just dependent on family income but also on the availability
of infrastructure and services, such as health, education and water supply.

5) Internationally agreed definitions of poverty are all concerned with outcomes (e.g. the effects
of the of lack of command over resources over time).

International definitions of poverty

Poverty, like evolution or health, is both a scientific and a moral concept. Many of the problems of
measuring poverty arise because the moral and scientific concepts are often confused. In scientific
terms, a child or their household is ‘poor’ when they have both a low standard of living and a lack of
resources over time (often measured in terms of low income). In many circumstances, a child or
their household would not be considered to be ‘poor’ if they had a low income and a reasonable
standard of living (although they are likely to be at risk of becoming ‘poor’).

A low standard of living is often measured by using a deprivation indicators (high deprivation equals
a low standard of living) or by consumption expenditure (low consumption expenditure equals a low
standard of living). Of these two methods, deprivation indices are more accurate since consumption
expenditure is often only measured over a brief period and is obviously not independent of income
currently available. Deprivation indices are broader measures because they reflect different aspects
of living standards, including personal, physical and mental conditions, local and environmental
facilities, social activities and customs.

Figure 3.1 below illustrates these concepts and illustrates the ‘objective’ poverty line/threshold. This
can be defined as the point that maximises the differences between the two groups (‘poor’ and ‘not
poor’) and minimises the differences within the two groups (‘poor’ and ‘not poor’). For scientific
purposes, broad measures of both income and standard of living are desirable. When the definition
of income is extended operationally to include the value of assets and receipt of goods and services
in kind, the correlation between the two become greater (see Chapter 1 and Townsend, 1979, p1176).
Standards of living includes varied elements, including both the material and social conditions in
which children and their families live and their participation in the social, cultural, economic and
political life of their country.

26
Figure 3.1: Definition of poverty

Not Poor
Standard of Living
Poor
High Poverty Threshold
Set Too High
Optimal Position of
the Poverty Threshold

Poverty Threshold
Set Too Low

Low

Low Income High

Income Income

A wide range of different methods have been used by governments and academic researchers to
measure poverty and the merits and problems of each method have been classified and discussed by
the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) of the International Social Science
Council (Øyen et al, 1996) and, more recently, by Boltvinik (1999) on behalf of UNDP.

Social science research has shown that all cultures have a concept and definition of poverty although
these definitions often vary (Gordon and Spicker, 1998). A major problem with many previous
attempts to measure poverty on a global scale is that there was no agreed definition of poverty. This
situation changed at the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen (United Nations,
1995). Among the innovations agreed in the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of
Action was the preparation of national anti-poverty plans based on measures in all countries of
‘absolute’ and ‘overall’ poverty. The aim was to link - if not reconcile - the difference between
industrialised and developing world conceptions, allow more reliable comparisons to be made
between countries and regions and make easier the identification of acceptable priorities for action.
In developing anti-poverty strategies, the international agreement at Copenhagen was a breakthrough
and the governments of 117 countries agreed to these definitions of absolute and overall poverty.

Absolute poverty is defined as "a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human
needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and
information. It depends not only on income but also on access to social services."

Overall poverty takes various forms, including "lack of income and productive resources to ensure
sustainable livelihoods; hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education

27
and other basic services; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and
inadequate housing; unsafe environments and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also
characterised by lack of participation in decision-making and in civil, social and cultural life. It
occurs in all countries: as mass poverty in many developing countries, pockets of poverty amid
wealth in developed countries, loss of livelihoods as a result of economic recession, sudden poverty
as a result of disaster or conflict, the poverty of low-wage workers, and the utter destitution of
people who fall outside family support systems, social institutions and safety nets.

Women bear a disproportionate burden of poverty and children growing up in poverty are often
permanently disadvantaged. Older people, people with disabilities, indigenous people, refugees and
internally displaced persons are also particularly vulnerable to poverty. Furthermore, poverty in its
various forms represents a barrier to communication and access to services, as well as a major
health risk, and people living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of disasters
and conflicts.

After the Copenhagen summit, the UN established four task forces to prepare co-ordinated action on
the major commitments from all the global summits, including children, women, population, habitat
and social development. The conclusion of this work was a statement of commitment to action to
eradicate poverty issued in June 1998 by the executive heads of all UN agencies (Langmore, 2000).
Poverty eradication “is the key international commitment and a central objective of the United
Nations system”.

Poverty was described as:

“Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It

means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed
and cloth a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s
food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness
and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it
often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or
sanitation” (UN Statement)

Income is important but access to public goods – safe water supply, roads, healthcare, education – is
of equal or greater importance, particularly in developing countries. These are the views of both the
governments of the world and the institutions of the United Nations and poverty measurement clearly
needs to respond to these views.

There is a need to look beyond income and consumption expenditure poverty measures and at both
the effects of low family income on children and the effects of inadequate service provision for
children (Vandemoortele, 2000; Mehrotra et al, 2000). It is a lack of investment in good quality
education, health and other public services in many parts of the world that is as significant a cause of
child poverty as low family incomes. Nobel Laureate, Amartya Sen, has argued that, in developing
countries, poverty is best measured directly using indicators of standard of living rather than
indirectly using income or consumption measures.

“In an obvious sense the direct method is superior to the income method … it could be argued that
only in the absence of direct information regarding the satisfaction of the specified needs can there
be a case for bringing in the intermediary of income, so that the income method is at most a second
best” (Sen, 1981).

28
Furthermore, Atkinson (1990) has argued that:

“The definition of the poverty indicator, of the poverty level, and of the unit of analysis are not
purely technical matters. They involve judgements about the objectives of policy. Any cross-country
comparison of poverty has therefore to consider the purposes of this analysis and the relationship
between these objectives and those pursued within the countries studied.”

Measuring child poverty in industrialised countries

For convenience, organisations such as Eurostat (the European Union statistical office) and the
OECD have, in recent years, compared the extent of child poverty in industrialised countries by
using a relative standard of income, such as half the average or median household income.
Considerable research efforts have resulted in a number of comparative studies of child poverty/low
family income in industrialised countries; using Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), European
Community Household Panel Survey (ECHP) and other similar data (for example, see Cornia and
Danziger, 1996; Bradbury and Jantti, 1999; Bradshaw, 1999; 2000; Mejer and Siermann, 2000;
UNICEF, 2000a; Bradbury et al, 2001; Vleminckx and Smeeding, 2001). However, the European
Union plans in future to use a much wider range of social indicators to measure poverty and social
inclusion than just relative low income thresholds (Atkinson et al, 2002).

The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Florence built upon the work of Bradbury and Jannti
(1999) to produce an influential analysis on the distribution of child poverty in OECD countries. A
child was deemed to be poor if they lived in a family whose equivalised income was less than 50% of
the median in the country in which they lived. Figure 3.2 shows the child poverty (low family
income) rates in industrialised countries (UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 2000).

The lowest child poverty rates are found in the Nordic countries - which have comprehensive welfare
states - whereas the highest rates are found in Mexico and the USA which have much less
comprehensive welfare states and less effective social safety nets.

29
Figure 3.2: UNICEF child poverty league table
(% of children living in households with income below 50% of the national median)

2.6 Sweden

3.9 Norway

4.3 Finland

4.4 Belgium

4.5 Luxembourg

5.1 Denmark

5.9 Czech Republic

7.7 Netherlands

7.9 France

10.3 Hungary

10.7 Germany

12.2 Japan

12.3 Spain

12.3 Greece

12.6 Australia

15.4 Poland

15.5 Canada

16.8 Ireland

19.7 Turkey

19.8 UK

20.5 Italy

22.4 USA

26.2 Mexico

0 5 10 15 20 25 30
% of children below national poverty lines

Measuring child poverty in developing countries

The purpose of this research is to produce the first accurate and reliable measure of the extent and
severity of child poverty in the developing world using internationally agreed definitions of poverty.
In particular, the primary objective is to produce an operational measure of absolute poverty for
children as defined agreed at the World Summit for Social Development.

The governments of 117 countries agreed that absolute poverty is “a condition characterised by
severe deprivation of basic human needs” (United Nations, 1995). Brown and Madge (1982), in
their major review of over 100 years of literature on deprivation, argued that:

“Deprivations are loosely regarded as unsatisfactory and undesirable circumstances, whether

material, emotional, physical or behavioural, as recognised by a fair degree of societal consensus.
Deprivations involve a lack of something generally held to be desirable - an adequate income, good
health, etc - a lack which is associated to a greater or lesser extent with some degree of suffering.”

Similarly, Townsend (1987) has argued that:

30
“Deprivation may be defined as a state of observable and demonstrable disadvantage relative to the
local community or the wider society or nation to which an individual, family or group belongs. The
idea has come to be applied to conditions (that is, physical, emotional or social states or
circumstances) rather than resources and to specific and not only general circumstances, and
therefore can be distinguished from the concept of poverty.”

The two concepts of poverty and deprivation are tightly linked but there is general agreement that the
concept of deprivation covers the various conditions, independent of income, experienced by people
who are poor, while the concept of poverty refers to the lack of income and other resources which
makes those conditions inescapable or at least highly likely.

Deprivation can be conceptualised as a continuum which ranges from no deprivation, through mild,
moderate and severe deprivation to extreme deprivation at the end of the scale (Gordon, 2002).
Figure 3.3 illustrates this concept.

Figure 3.3: Continuum of deprivation

Mild Moderate Severe

No Deprivation Extreme Deprivation

In order to measure absolute poverty amongst children, it is necessary to define the threshold
measures of severe deprivation of basic human need for:

! food
! safe drinking water
! sanitation facilities
! health
! shelter
! education
! information
! access to services

A taxonomy of severe deprivation is required, since a reliable taxonomy is a prerequisite for any
scientific measurement. In this research, the threshold measures for severe deprivation, as far as is
practicable, conform to internationally agreed standards and conventions. Theoretically, we have
defined ‘severe deprivation of basic human need’ as those circumstances that are highly likely to
have serious adverse consequences for the health, well-being and development of children. Severe
deprivations are causally related to ‘poor’ developmental outcomes both long and short term. Table
3.1 shows the idealised operational definitions of deprivation for the eight criteria in the World
Summit definition of absolute poverty (from Gordon et al, 2001).

31
Table 3.1: Operational definitions of deprivation for children

Deprivation Mild Moderate Severe Extreme

Food Bland diet of poor Going hungry on Malnutrition Starvation
nutritional value occasion
Safe drinking Not having enough No access to water Long walk to water No access to
water water on occasion in dwelling but source (more than 200 water
due to lack of communal piped meters or longer than
sufficient money water available 15 minutes). Unsafe
within 200 meters drinking water (e.g.
of dwelling or less open water)
than 15 minutes
walk away
Sanitation facilities Having to share Sanitation No sanitation facilities No access to
facilities with facilities outside in or near dwelling sanitation
another household dwelling facilities
Health Occasional lack of Inadequate No immunisation No medical care
access to medical medical care against diseases. Only
care due to limited non-
insufficient money professional medical
care available when
sick
Shelter Dwelling in poor Few facilities in No facilities in house, Roofless – no
repair. More than 1 dwelling, lack of non-permanent shelter
person per room heating, structural structure, no privacy,
problems. More no flooring, just one
than 3 people per or two rooms.
room More than 5 persons
per room
Education Inadequate Unable to attend Child is 7 or older and Prevented from
teaching due to secondary but can has received no learning due to
lack of resources attend primary primary or secondary persecution and
education education prejudice
Information Can’t afford No television but No access to radio, Prevented from
newspapers or can afford a radio television or books or gaining access
books newspapers to information
by government,
etc.
Basic Social Health and Inadequate Health Limited health and No access to
Services education facilities and education education facilities a health or
available but facilities near by days travel away education
occasionally of (e.g. less than 1 facilities
low standard hour travel)

Operational measures of absolute poverty for children

The most appropriate available data which could be used to operationalise the measurement of child
poverty in developing countries were the DHS and, for China, the China Health and Nutrition
Surveys. High quality household and individual survey data were available from 46 countries,
collected within the last 10 years (and, for most countries, much more recently – see Gordon et al,
2001). Detailed face-to-face interview data were available for almost 500,000 households, of which
over 380,000 were households with children (Table 3.2). The total number of children in this
aggregated sample was over 1.1 million (approximately one in every 1,500 children in the
developing world) and the information about the children’s lives was reported by their mothers or
main carers. This is probably the largest and most accurate survey sample of children ever
assembled. It is a particularly good sample of African children (with interview data on one child in

32
every 650) although the number of children in the East Asian and Pacific sample (123,400)
represents a lower sampling fraction (one child in every 4,500).

Table 3.2: Summary sample size details, by region

Region Sample size Number of Number of Number of children

(All HH) HH with children in under 18
children sample (UN figures, 1998)
Latin America & Caribbean 95,963 71,863 189,709 193,482,000
Middle East North Africa 34,980 28,432 106,280 154,037,000
South Asia 116,443 95,960 276,609 603,761,000
East Asia & Pacific 62,773 49,858 123,400 559,615,000
Sub-Saharan Africa 178,056 142,494 487,885 317,860,000
World total 488,215 388,607 1,183,883 1,828,755,000

It was not possible to use the survey data to operationalise the idealised definitions of severe
deprivation of basic human need that we had established prior to the data analysis phase of this
research (see Table 3.1 above). Some compromise always has to be made when dealing with real
survey data. However, the severe deprivation measures that were available are conceptually very
close to our idealised measures. The measures used were:

1) Severe Food Deprivation– children whose heights and weights for their age were more than
-3 standard deviations below the median of the international reference population e.g. severe
anthropometric failure.

2) Severe Water Deprivation - children who only had access to surface water (e.g. rivers) for
drinking or who lived in households where the nearest source of water was more than 15
minutes away (e.g. indicators of severe deprivation of water quality or quantity).

3) Severe Deprivation of Sanitation Facilities – children who had no access to a toilet of any
kind in the vicinity of their dwelling, e.g. no private or communal toilets or latrines.

4) Severe Health Deprivation – children who had not been immunised against any diseases or
young children who had a recent illness involving diarrhoea and had not received any
medical advice or treatment.

5) Severe Shelter Deprivation – children in dwellings with more than five people per room
(severe overcrowding) or with no flooring material (e.g. a mud floor).

6) Severe Education Deprivation – children aged between 7 and 18 who had never been to
school and were not currently attending school (e.g. no professional education of any kind).

7) Severe Information Deprivation – children aged between 3 and 18 with no access to, radio,
television, telephone or newspapers at home.

8) Severe Deprivation of Access to Basic Services – children living 20 kilometres or more

from any type of school or 50 kilometres or more from any medical facility with doctors.
Unfortunately, this kind of information was only available for a few countries so it has not

33
 been possible to construct accurate regional estimates of severe deprivation of access to basic
services.

Children who suffer from these levels of severe deprivation are very likely to be living in absolute
poverty. However, while the cause of severe deprivation of basic human need is invariably a result
of lack of resources/income, there will also be some children in this situation due to discrimination
(e.g. girls suffering severe education deprivation) or due to disease (severe malnutrition can be
caused by some diseases). For this reason, we have assumed that a child is living in absolute poverty
if he or she suffers from two or more severe deprivations of basic human need as defined above.
Similarly, a household with children is defined as living in absolute poverty if the children in that
household suffer from two or more severe deprivations of basic human need.

The main practical criteria used to select these measures of severe deprivations were:

! data availability for a large number of children

! the definitions must be consistent with international norms and agreements

The purpose of this study was to measure children’s living conditions that were so severely deprived
that they were indicative of absolute poverty. Thus, the measures used are typically indicative of
much more severe deprivation than the indicators frequently published by international
organisations. For example, ‘no schooling’ instead of ‘non-completion of primary school’, ‘no
sanitations facilities’ instead of ‘unimproved sanitations facilities’, ‘no immunisations of any kind’
instead of ‘incomplete immunisation against common diseases’, ‘malnutrition measured as
anthropometric failure below -3 standard deviations from the reference population median’ instead of
‘below -2 standard deviations from the reference median’, etc. We have, in the tradition of Rowntree
(1901), tried to err on the side of caution in defining these indicators of absolute poverty in such
severe terms that few would question that these living conditions were unacceptable. Details of how
each severe deprivation was measured are discussed below.

Severe food deprivation amongst children

Children suffering from severe food deprivation are those children who are severely stunted, wasted
or underweight (more than -3 standard deviations below the reference population median).

Food deprivation exists where households are unable to obtain sufficient food to meet the needs of
all members but also arises where there is intra-household and social discrimination (where some
members may be considered 'worth' more or less than others and so not have equal access to food).
Uvin (1994) has argued that “Food deprivation refers to inadequate individual consumption of food
or specific nutrients, also known as undernutrition”. A child will suffer from food deprivation if she
has an insufficient quantity and/or quality of food. Food can be of insufficient quality if it lacks
micronutrients and/or if it is contaminated with harmful pathogens.

Severe anthropometric failure is often used as an indicator of food deprivation. It is a major

determinant of child survival since it determines the physical and cognitive development of children
and affects morbidity by reducing immunocompetence (Osmani, 1992; Waterlow, 1989). Severely
malnourished children have been shown to have higher rates of mortality (Chen et al, 1980) and over
half the 12.2 million deaths of children under five years of age in developing countries are associated
with malnutrition (Bailey et al, 1998; Pelletier et al, 1993). The link with poverty is well
documented, in both developing and developed countries (Dreze et al, 1995; Osmani, 1992; Miller

34
and Korenman, 1994) and the main causes of malnutrition are food deprivation and/or exposure to
infection.

Estimates of anthropometric failure in children tend to be based on children under five years old.
The World Health Organisation's Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition contains data
on children up to age 11 years of age but no older age groups. There have been several surveys
conducted on malnutrition in adolescents but they are rarely comparable since they often use
different indicators, cut-off points and reference populations.

Any estimate of anthropometric failure depends on the measure being used. Three of the main
anthropometric measures often used as indicators of the prevalence of malnutrition in young children
are:

! Stunting (low height for age)

! Wasting (low weight for height)
! Underweight (low weight for age)

Stunting reflects chronic (long-term) under-nutrition. It is associated with long-term deprivation of

food or exposure to infection and, in children over two, its effects are believed to be irreversible. In
children under three, stunting implies a current failure to grow as a result of under-nutrition. In older
children, low height for age reflects a previous failure to grow and results in them being stunted. The
stunting measure does not reflect short-term changes in nutritional status (Cogill, 2001).

Wasting is an indicator of body mass and is used to assess acute (current) under-nutrition or recent
weight loss, which can result either from low food intake and/or repeated infection. The prevalence
of wasting may be affected by the season of measurement (food availability at harvest time for
example) and is appropriate for assessing nutritional status in emergency situations.

Underweight is used as a composite measure of wasting and stunting and is associated both with a
lack of food and infection (e.g. weight loss from repeated bouts of diarrhoea). It reflects both
chronic and acute under-nutrition for a given age but cannot distinguish between the two - i.e. an
'underweight' child could be tall and thin (wasted) or short and fat (stunted) but will be necessarily
malnourished. It is the measure currently used by WHO and UNICEF to estimate the prevalence of
child malnutrition in developing countries.

Children whose measurements are more than -2 standard deviations below a reference population
median are classified as ‘mild to moderate’ stunted, wasted or underweight. Children whose
measurements are more than -3 standard deviations below the reference population median are
considered ‘severely’ stunted, wasted or underweight (WHO, 1995a).

In this study, we have used a composite measure of anthropometric failure which includes all
children who are more than -3 standard deviations from the reference median in terms of being
wasted, stunted and underweight and all possible combinations of these failures (e.g. severely
underweight and severely stunted). Further details can be found in the technical appendix (Appendix
III).

35
Severe water deprivation amongst children
Households and children in households who were using surface water or had more than a 15 minute
walk to their water source were considered severely water deprived.

The relationship between clean water, health and poverty has known for a long time. Victorian
campaigners like Edwin Chadwick and William Farr appreciated the link between water, sanitation,
health and poverty and their work culminated in the world’s first Public Health Act in the UK in
1848. In the years following the Act, mortality from diseases like cholera and typhoid declined
significantly, with a concurrent increase in life expectancy. The impact of a lack of access to water is
manifold. Children without sufficient drinking water or water for hygiene are susceptible to a range
of diseases (including diarrhoea and malnutrition) resulting in illness and death that could otherwise
have been prevented18. In many developing countries, health services are unable to meet the basic
needs of the population and diseases resulting from a lack of water contribute to the overburdening of
the system. Sick children are unable to attend school, so affecting their education and further limiting
what opportunities they have.

The 2000 Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment (GWSSA) estimated that, at the start of
the year 2000, 1.1 billion people were without access to ‘improved water supplies’19. ‘Improved
water supplies’ include piped water to dwellings, water from public standpipes, boreholes, protected
wells and springs and rainwater. Sources of water not considered ‘improved’ were unprotected wells
and springs, water from tanker trucks, private vendors and bottled water (due to quantity not quality
considerations). Water deprivation is not just an issue of water quality it is also an issue of the
quantity and in particular the distance people must travel to obtain water. Distance to a water source
is a major factor in determining the quantity of water used and what it is used for. The 2000 GWSSA
makes clear that “the quantity of water people use depends on their ease of access to it…If water is
available through a house or yard connection, people will use large quantities for hygiene, but
consumption drops when water must be carried for more than a few minutes from a source to the
household” (WHO, UNICEF and WSSCC, 2000)

Where people are water deprived, the burden of collecting and transporting water often falls on
women and children and fetching water is a activity that takes up valuable time which could be spent
at school or working. International organisations like the World Health Organisation (WHO) and
UNICEF have defined ‘reasonable access’ to mean the availability of at least 20 litres per person per
day from a source within one kilometre of the dwelling. In urban areas, reasonable access has been
elsewhere defined as piped water or a public standpipe within 200 metres of the dwelling (UNDP,
UNEP, World Bank and World Resources Institute, 2000) but, for rural areas, the issue of distance is
less clear, with reasonable access meaning that a family member should not spend a ‘disproportionate
part of the day’ obtaining water for the family. A Department for International Development (DFID)
manual on water and sanitation programs showed that water consumption fell significantly from
around 50 litres per person per day (lcd) if the water source was in or within five minutes of the
dwelling, to around 10 litres per person per day if the source was more than five minutes away
(DFID, 1998).

Minimum quantities of water needed

18
The WHO and UNICEF estimate that a lack of safe drinking water and inadequate hygiene cause over three million
child deaths in developing countries (UNICEF, 2000a) - every eight seconds a child dies of a water-related disease.
19
Previous estimates of the number of people who were water deprived used the term ‘access to safe water’. The 2000
GWSSA uses the term ‘improved water supplies’ since the data on the quality of water provided by countries was
not considered reliable.

36
Having established a universal need for water from safe/improved/accessible supplies, the issue then
arises of how much water people need to survive/live normal, healthy lives. There have been
recommendations for a basic water requirement (BWR) – the amount of water a person would need to
fulfil their basic drinking, cooking, bathing and sanitation needs – from the WHO, World Bank and
USAID, which ranges from 20 to 50 lcd. A 1996 article in Water International attempted to set
targets for water use by looking at the basic needs uses of water. Gleick (1996) estimated that, to
meet peoples’ basic needs, a standard of 5 lcd be set for drinking, 10 lcd for cooking and food
preparation, 15 lcd for bathing and 20 lcd for sanitation and hygiene.

A USAID policy paper from 1982 states that 10 lcd is the minimum requirement for drinking,
cooking and food preparation and that “second in priority is sufficient water for bathing, personal
hygiene and washing utensils, for which 10 – 15 lcd is the minimum….where these minimum
standards…cannot be assured, investments in water supply are not likely to achieve their desired
health impact” (USAID, 1982).

In this study, we have erred on the side of caution by defining severe deprivation of water need as
children whose households were using surface water or had more than a 15 minute walk to their
water source. The rational for this composite measure is that surface water can occasionally become
polluted and dangerous (unsafe) and a 15 minute walk to a water source (30 minute round trip)
means that it is highly likely that the child will only have access to a severely limited quantity of
water at home.

Severe sanitation deprivation amongst children

Severe sanitation deprivation is defined in this study as children who do not have access to any
sanitation facilities whatsoever in or near their homes.

The importance of sanitation (and water) to children’s lives was well understood in the 19th Century
where, in UK cities like Liverpool and London, the life expectancy of the poor was less than it is in
developing countries today. People in large numbers suffered with and died from dysentery, cholera
and diarrhoea, just as they do today in developing countries. Public health and sanitation reforms of
Edwin Chadwick and others led to a rapid decline in the high mortality and morbidity rates and life
expectancy rose dramatically in the following years. European countries like Britain were able to
invest considerable resources in the construction of sewer systems, which allowed for the safe
removal of waste from already over crowded cities (Szreter, 1988).

Access to sanitation facilities has been shown to be the critical factor in improving child health in
developing countries. Its importance to primary health care strategies was propounded at the 1978
Alma Ata conference, where the goal of Health for All by the Year 2000 was set.

Esrey and Habicht (1986) surveyed the epidemiological evidence of health benefits from improved
water and sanitation. They found that child health was affected by the quality of drinking water
used, the quantity of water used and the provision of sanitation facilities for safe disposal of human
waste. Studies, which examined the health impact of both water and sanitation, showed a reduction
in diarrhoea was associated with improved water and sanitation conditions. They also showed lower
rates of malnourished children in families whose toilets were connected to the sewage system than
families with no latrines.

Studies that looked at the health impact of improved sanitation “consistently reported an association
between improved health and sanitation” (ibid). Those that compared the relative importance of

37
water and sanitation found that the latter was a more important determinant of child health. The
level of sanitation was found to determine the size of the impact on health, with flush toilets
producing larger health impacts than pit latrines. The impact of sanitation on child health will also
be affected by a range of other factors, such as the extent of breastfeeding, the mother’s level of
education, household income and socio-economic status.

Lowering mortality and morbidity through the provision and use of clean water and effective
sanitation can reduce the number of days children miss school. Sanitation in schools is a particularly
important issue and studies have shown that the participation of girls increases if the school has some
form of sanitation facility. However, many schools in developing countries lack proper toilets,
which means children are exposed to infection and ill health.

Measuring severe deprivation of sanitation needs

The DHS data provides details of the toilet facilities used by children and their household and show
what proportion of households had flush toilets within the home or compound, what proportion used
pit latrines or public toilets and what proportion had no access to any facilities. It should be noted
that no indication of the quality of facilities was available and, in some instances, the conditions of
‘communal’ facilities might make the use of a field a more attractive option. In many countries,
safety is an important issue. If communities have to rely on public toilets which they consider unsafe
(especially at night), then they are unlikely to use them20. However, in some states where private
ownership of toilets is low (such as China), the use of well-maintained public toilets means people at
least have access to a safe means of excreta disposal, which is the important point.

An example of good practice is the Sulabh Sanitation Movement, which began in India during the
1970s and which provides community toilets. Toilet blocks are linked to bio-gas plants, which
recycle human waste into a range of useful by-products, such as fertiliser and bio-gas. Users are
charged a nominal fee, which is put towards the maintenance and up keep of the facility and to
education and awareness raising programmes (on issues such as AIDS and family planning methods)
(UN-HABITAT and UNEP, 2002).

Previous global estimates of access to sanitation have had to deal with differing national definitions
of what constitutes ‘convenient access’ to sanitation. While some countries consider pit latrines to
be sanitary, others might not. For example, Uganda considers pit latrines as sanitary and the DHS
data show that over 80% of households therefore have access to sanitation. However, if one takes a
more stringent approach and considers pit latrines unsanitary (as Brazil does), then the proportion of
households with children with access drops to 3% (UNICEF, 1997).

The list below shows what are considered to be 'improved' and 'not improved' sanitation facilities by
international agencies like the WHO and UNICEF.

Technologies considered ‘improved’ sanitation

Connection to a public sewer
Connection to a septic system
Pour-flush latrine
Simple pit latrine
Ventilated improved pit latrine

20
An article in New Scientist described how, in a poor settlement in Nairobi, people had resorted to using plastic bags for
the disposal of faeces. One of the main problems however, was when they came to dispose of the bags - by
throwing them out of windows – ‘flying toilets’ (New Scientist, 2002a). This is somewhat reminiscent of the way
bedpans were emptied into the street in 18th Century Europe.

38
 Technologies considered ‘not improved’ sanitation
Service or bucket latrines (where excreta are removed manually)
Public latrines
Open latrine
Source: GWSSA (2000)

For the purposes of this report, the same definition of severe sanitation deprivation was applied to all
states for which data were available. Thus, the data shown refer to those households with children
who had no access to any sanitation facilities whatsoever.

Severe health deprivation amongst children

The World Health Organisation (1995c) considers that “The world's biggest killer and the greatest
cause of ill health and suffering across the globe is listed almost at the end of the International
Classification of Diseases. It is given code Z59.5 -- extreme poverty. Seven out of 10 childhood
deaths in developing countries can be attributed to just five main causes, or a combination of them:
pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles, malaria and malnutrition. Around the world, three out of four
children seen by health services are suffering from at least one of these conditions (WHO, 1996;
1998).

The measure used to indicate severe deprivation of children’s health needs is a composite one which
includes children (under 18 years) who have not received any of the eight EPI immunisations or who
have had untreated diarrhoea in the two weeks prior to the survey for which no medical advice was
obtained.

Immunisation and child health

Immunisation against childhood diseases such as diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus
(DTP), polio, tuberculosis (BCG) and measles has contributed to significant reductions in morbidity
and mortality. For example, the annual global reported incidence of measles21 declined by two-thirds
between 1990 and 1999 as a result of the increase in immunisation coverage.

Immunisation data can be used as an indicator of a country's health system's capacity to provide
essential services. Achieving high levels of coverage is, by itself, not a sufficient indicator of the
effectiveness of a health care system, since deficiencies in other areas may be considerable. A lack
of progress in achieving high levels of coverage is considered a strong indicator of failure to provide
essential services to the most vulnerable – children and pregnant women.

The incidence of vaccine-preventable disease varies between countries and use of coverage measures
should take this into consideration. Thus, in most developed countries, where the incidence of
measles is low, children are given the vaccination at a later age (12-15 months) than in a developing
country, where prevalence is greater and chances of infection much higher. Children in these
countries need to be fully immunised by one year of age.

State level data can conceal significant differences between socio-economic groups. An upward
trend in overall immunisation could result from increased coverage among groups who already have
medium to high levels of coverage, while coverage among the poorest remains low or even declines.

21
The effects of measles are particularly debilitating. When it does not kill, it may cause blindness, malnutrition,
deafness or pneumonia. An infected child requires close attention (due to the contagiousness of the disease) and
can miss many days or weeks of schooling until recovered.

39
DHS data have been used to show the difference in coverage rates between socio-economic groups,
with children from poorer groups less likely to be immunised (Gwatkin et al, 2000).

Immunisation against the main childhood diseases is a universally recommended and cost-effective
public health priority, for which internationally agreed targets exist. The 1990 World Summit for
Children set a goal of achieving 90% coverage by the year 2000. In 2002, at the UN Special Summit
for Children, the Secretary General's report confirmed that, while the 90% goal had not been met,
significant progress had been made, with a 73% coverage achieved. However, progress was not
uniform, with coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa declining during the 1990s, from around 60% in 1990,
to 47% in 1999. The main reason for this decline was "the fall in commitments made by donors,
especially in training, surveillance and logistics, which was not fully compensated by national
budget increases" (United Nations General Assembly, 2002).

In 1995, WHO reported that 80% of the three million deaths from diarrhoeal disease were among
children under five. About half of these deaths were due to acute watery diarrhoea, 35% to persistent
diarrhoea and 15% to dysentery. Food and water contaminated by pathogens (particularly, E. Coli)
were the main cause of diarrhoeal disease, with food contamination being the most important cause
in most countries. Many of the child deaths resulting from diarrhoeal are thought to be preventable if
medical advice and treatment (such as ORT) are available (WHO, 1995c).

The measure of severe deprivation of children’s basic health needs used in this report is composed of
two elements – immunisation status and the treatment of diarrhoea. DHS data were collected on
children aged between 0 and 2 and 0 and 5, depending on the country. Ideally, a measure of child
health would be one derived from and applicable to children of all ages, however, it is younger
children who are likely to suffer the most severe consequences from untreated diarrhoeal disease and
who have the least developed immune systems.

The measure used to indicate severe deprivation of children’s health needs is a composite one, which
includes children who have not received ANY of the eight EPI immunisations or who have had
untreated diarrhoea in the two weeks prior to the survey for which no medical advice was obtained.
Since immunisations start soon after birth, all children were eligible. Fully immunised status was not
used since this would exclude a large proportion of the children, since no six month old is fully
immunised, due to the recommended vaccination schedule. The numbers of children who had not
received any immunisations was far greater than the number with untreated diarrhoea in the two
weeks prior to the survey.

Severe shelter deprivation amongst children

Severe deprivation has been operationalised in terms of whether the dwelling has either mud flooring
or has more than five occupants per room.

The relevance of shelter deprivation for health has been recognised in the scientific literature for over
150 years, since Chadwick (1842) estimated that the average life expectancy of people in Liverpool,
England, in the worst housing (cellars), to be only 15 years. The literature on housing and its
relationship to health demonstrates that current housing conditions - as well as past housing
conditions - can have significant impacts upon both physical and mental health. The aspects of poor
housing which impact upon health vary, to some extent, with stages of the life cycle. Particular types
of housing disadvantage have a greater effect upon children and child development than upon adult
health, while some represent problems particularly for older people.

40
Children in developing countries and living in overcrowded and poor quality housing, with a lack of
basic services, are exposed to diseases such as diarrhoea, respiratory infections, measles, malaria,
cholera and dengue fever. Urban children, in particular, are also exposed to diseases of pollution and
are exposed to a higher risk of accidents. Campbell et al (1989) and Ezzati and Kamen (2001) found
that exposure to pollutants from domestic biomass fuels such as wood, charcoal, agricultural residues
and dung is causally linked with acute respiratory infections in children. Bruce et al (2000) also
found that indoor air pollution increases the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in
childhood and is the most important cause of death among children under five years of age in
developing countries. Estimates suggest that indoor cooking fumes are killing half a million women
and children in India each year (New Scientist, 2002b). Although the proportion of global energy
derived from biomass fuels fell from 50% in 1900 to around 13% in 2000, their use may be
increasing among poor people who are unable to switch to cleaner fuels (Bruce et al, 2000).

There are a variety of indicators which can be used to measure shelter deprivation. In examining the
relationship between housing deprivation and social change in the UK, between 1970 and 1990, Dale
et al (1996) described housing deprivation in terms of overcrowding (defined as less than one room
per person), lacking amenities (defined as sharing or lacking either an inside toilet or bath/shower)
and sharing accommodation. Marsh and his colleagues’ (1999) longitudinal analysis of the impact of
poor housing on health went beyond the physical characteristics of the dwelling to define housing
deprivation as including subjective assessments such as satisfaction with accommodation and
neighbourhood. Both studies, however, acknowledged that what constitutes housing deprivation
changes over time: “minimum standards of what is acceptable housing must be revised with
economic progress and social aspirations” (Dale et al, 1996, p8).

Historically, most definitions of housing deprivation have been concerned with aspects of housing
from a public health dimension, at least in the European context (Murie, 1983). Housing deprivation
was seen as issue of public health and therefore concern focused on the physical characteristics on
the dwelling. However, the focus on the physical aspects of dwellings is regarded as inadequate as
considerations have given way to the manner in which “the accommodation is occupied, where it is
located and the social and economic characteristics of the occupants.” (ibid)

In the developing world context, shelter deprivation is still principally seen in terms of the physical
aspects of the dwelling. The most common indicators refer to dwelling complying with building
regulations and whether the dwelling is a permanent structure. Other indicators used are floor area
per person and number of people per room which both measure over-crowding. Homelessness is
also used as a measure of deprivation but its definition and measurement is controversial (as it also is
in the industrialised world) (see, for example, Tipple and Speak, 2000).

In this study, we have used a composite indicator of severe shelter deprivation - more than five
occupants per room - which is a robust indicator of overcrowding - and the presence of a mud floor -
which is a robust indicator of the dwelling not complying with local building regulations. Children
living in households with more than five people per room or in a house with a mud floor are highly
likely to have an increased risk of infection. There educational development is also likely to be
effected as it is very hard to study in such dwelling conditions.

Severe education deprivation amongst children

Severe education deprivation is suffered by those children who are aged between seven and eighteen
who have received no primary or secondary education, i.e. no professional education at all.

41
All governments in the world believe that children should attend school by the age of seven. Whilst,
in most countries, children start primary school by six years of age, in some they start at seven which
is the reason why the definition of severe education deprivation includes children from seven years
and upwards to 18. A child who has had no basic formal education is highly likely to be illiterate
and have his or her development impaired by modern standards. This belief is historically relatively
recent, 150 years ago virtually no government would have considered that all children should attend
school or need to be taught by qualified professionals (Hendrick, 1994; 2003).

The value of education in the alleviation of poverty is today universally acknowledged, as recent
reports from the Department for International Development make clear: “elimination of poverty and
progress towards sustainable development cannot take place without increased and improved levels
of education” (DFID, 2001c) whilst “the countries which have made the greatest progress in
reducing poverty in recent decades are those which have combined effective and equitable
investment in education.” (DFID, 2001b, p10)

There is also a large body of research which supports the view that education can have significant
benefits with respect to the wider goals of development. This is particularly the case when the
education of women is improved. The mother’s role in relation to her children is significant because
it is she who will be responsible for making sure that they have been fed, attended school or are
taken to the health services in times of illness. For example, Filmer (1999) found that the education
of women has a significant impact on the enrolment of children in all countries considered. Bicego
and Ahmad (1998) found that improving the mother’s education is linked to reductions in child
mortality and, whilst it is difficult to disentangle the effects of education on child mortality from
other factors such as income poverty, there is evidence that education is independently associated
with improved health rates (Government of Pakistan, cited in Watkins, 2000).

The benefits of girls’ education are summarised at the End of Decade Review of the World Summit
for Children in the box below (see Box 3.1).

Box 3.1: The benefits of girls’ education

1. A right is fulfilled
2. Prospects for increased family income
3. Later marriage and reduced fertility rates
4. Reduced infant mortality
5. Reduced maternal mortality
6. Better nourished and healthier children and families
7. Greater opportunities and life choices for women (including protection against HIV/AIDS)
8. Greater participation of women in development and in political and economic decision-making.

Source: UNICEF (2001b)

Measuring severe education deprivation among children

Education deprivation can be measured in a variety of ways although, in the developing world, this
has traditionally been fraught with difficulties because of poor quality data. In the UK, educational
achievement in terms of national qualifications is used as the basis of comparing educational
inequalities among children (Quilgars, 2001). However, the most common measure used in the
context of the developing world has been gross primary enrolment rate. One of the main weaknesses

42
of school enrolment is that it is only a proxy for actual school attendance (World Bank, 2000).
Additionally, the gross enrolment rate represents the proportion of children enrolled regardless of
age. This has led to some countries having gross enrolment rates of more than 100%. Instead, the
net primary enrolment rate, which corresponds to the number of children of the official primary
school-age enrolled in primary education expressed as a percentage of the corresponding population,
is preferred - as is evident in the Education For All 2000 Assessment (World Education Forum,
2000).

Many studies focusing on educational attainment use the adult and not the child population. Barro
and Lee (1993), for example, used proportions of the population with primary, secondary and higher
education among individuals aged 25 and above in order to gauge educational attainment. Others,
like Nehru et al (1993), constructed estimates based on mean schooling (years) at primary,
secondary, and tertiary levels for the working age population and did not disaggregate their
information by sex.

This study uses individual level survey microdata on receipt of formal education by children which is
likely to be more accurate than administrative statistics on enrolment.

Severe deprivation of access to information amongst children

This study defines children as severe information deprived if they are aged three or more and have no
radio, telephone, television and newspapers at home. Very young children (under three years old)
are unlikely to be considered to be information deprived if they lack access to these media.

A lack of access to information is considered by the world’s governments to be a characteristic of

absolute poverty. This form of deprivation, like education deprivation, is a relatively recent
historical phenomenon. In the 21st Century children’s access to information is seen as both a basic
human right and an important requirement for children’s development. Modern societies require a
well educated and informed population in order to prosper and eradicate poverty. Children need
access to information in order to know and understand about the world outside their own community.

Since the 1950s has been a profound expansion in the use of domestic Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as telephones, radios and televisions, whilst the
development of the Internet, since the early 1980s, has also had a big impact. However, there is
international concern that there is a growing global information divide between the rich and the poor:
as the developed world moves rapidly into the Information Age, children in developing countries lag
behind those in the developed world.

Nelson Mandela, for example, stated at TELECOM 95, the 7th World Telecommunications
Conference and Exhibition, that: “One gulf will not be easily bridged - that is the division between
the information rich and the information poor. Justice and equity demand that we find ways of
overcoming it. If more than half the world is denied access to the means of communication, the
people of developing countries will not be fully part of the modern world. For, in the 21st century,
the capacity to communicate will almost certainly be a key human right”.

Despite the enshrinement of access to information in various declarations and covenants: “The free
and fair flow of information in poor countries is the exception rather than the rule and poverty
places further restrictions on access to information. Governments may be poorly placed to
systematically disseminate information to the public or may not be inclined towards such
transparency because of high levels of corruption. Poor countries are also prone to conflict and such

43
environments are not conducive to free flows of information and rights to access information”
(Skuse, 2001, p3)

Poor infrastructure is one of the central problems facing poor countries in the developing world, i.e.
low levels of rural electrification and telephone connections, low quality radio and television
transmitters and poor press circulation. For example, although there has been a growth in telephone
connections among the developing countries, the gap has widened between them and the emerging
nations. In 1991, total telephone penetration (fixed-line/mobile phones) stood at 49% in developed
countries, 3% in emerging nations and just 0.3% in the developing countries. By 2001, the
corresponding levels were 121%, 19%, and just over 1%. (ITU, 2002). It is shocking that the whole
of Africa has only 14 million telephone lines, fewer than New York or Tokyo (UNCHS, 2001).

However, in many developing countries, investing in improving communications infrastructure may

not have such a big impact. This is primarily because people’s incomes are often insufficient to cover
the costs of purchasing radios, televisions, newspapers, computers, etc and are also insufficient to
cover the relatively high costs of energy, e.g. batteries, electricity, or fuel for generators and
insufficient to pay for the relatively expensive charges associated with accessing the Internet -
telephone and server charges. (Box 3.2).

Box 3.2: Information and poverty in Rwanda

Although radio sets and batteries are widely available for sale in Rwanda, they are difficult to afford
for rural people. A small portable FM/SW receiver currently costs about 3,000 FR (about £5.45) and
the accompanying batteries to run it cost 200 FR (£0.36). Owning and listening to radio is a luxury
when one considers that the daily wage for an adult male labourer on a rural building site is 300 FR
per day, or that a female tea-picker can expect to earn only 100 FR (£0.18 per day). Because of this,
radio listeners in poor countries such as Rwanda tend to ration their daily listening to key broadcasts
such as the national news and international news.
Source: Skuse (2001, p6)

Amongst the most important sources of information for children in developing countries are access
to radios, televisions, telephones and newspapers. In this study, we have measured severe
information deprivation for children as those who live in households where no adult has access to
these information sources. The adults include the children’s mother (or mothers if there are several
women with children in the household) and the ‘head of household’, who is often a man. Data on
access to information sources is reported separately in the DHS by the head of household in the
household interview and by eligible women who answered the ‘women’s questionnaire’. We have
assumed that, if the adults in the household do not have access to information sources, then neither
will the children in the household22.

Measuring absolute poverty

Absolute poverty in this study is defined as children or households with children who suffer from
two or more different types of severe deprivation of basic human need e.g. severe water and
sanitation deprivation, or severe education, information and shelter deprivation, etc. The reason for
using a multiple deprivation threshold to measure absolute poverty, rather than equating absolute

22
In China’s Health and Nutrition Survey, access to information is recorded for each child not just for the adults. Results
for China are more direct measures than for the other countries in this study which use adult information access as a
proxy measure for children’s access.

44
poverty with a single deprivation, is that in rare cases single severe deprivations can result from
causes other than a lack of command of sufficient resources over time e.g. severe anthropometric
failure can result from ill health rather than from lack of income. Similarly, severe education
deprivation could result from discrimination (particularly against girls) rather than from the lack of a
teacher or a school in the village. However, it is very unlikely that two or more different severe
deprivations would be caused by any reason other than a lack of sufficient resources.

Ideally in order to accurately measure poverty it is necessary to have both resource/income

information and standard of living/deprivation data collected in the same survey. If this is not
possible then deprivation data is preferable to income or expenditure data as it is both easier to
measure and does not change as rapidly over time – deprivations can be more reliably measured than
income. Many scientific studies on poverty have demonstrated that multiple deprivation is a robust
indicator of poverty (for example, Townsend, 1979) and, similarly, severe multiple deprivation
should be a good indicator of absolute poverty as defined at the World Summit on Social
Development.

45
46
 Chapter 4

Severe Deprivation amongst Children in the Developing World

Introduction
This chapter describes the distribution of severe deprivation of basic human need amongst children
in the developing world. It begins by summarising the main results of the study and is followed by
three sections which each consider the data in more detail. The first of these sections compares the
extent of severe deprivation in developing world regions with regards to each of the seven indicators,
i.e. food, water, sanitation, health, shelter, education and access to information. Differences within
regions are also examined in terms of gender and locality. The second section examines the
distribution of severe deprivation, defined in terms children experiencing one or more severe
deprivations. The third and final section compares absolute poverty rates between and within regions
– where absolute poverty is defined as the condition of those children who suffer from multiple
severe deprivations - two or more different types of severe deprivation of basic human need (see
Chapter 3 for discussion).

Summary of main results

This study found shockingly high rates of severe deprivation amongst children. It reveals that severe
shelter and severe sanitation deprivation are the largest problems affecting children in the developing
world, with 34% of children suffering from severe shelter deprivation and 31% of children suffering
from severe sanitation deprivation (Figure 4.1).

Figure 4.1: Percent of children who are severely deprived of basic human needs

47
These deprivations are discussed in order of decreasing severity.

Shelter deprivation
Over a third of the developing world’s children have to live in dwellings with more than five people
per room or which have mud flooring. Some regions have exceptionally high rates of shelter
deprivation. Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, has 62% of its children suffering from shelter
deprivation and this rises to 73% in rural areas.

Sanitation deprivation
Over half a billion children (31%) in the developing world have no toilet facilities whatsoever. Most
of these children live in South Asia, where this condition applies to over 61% of children (nearly 344
million children). Urban-rural differences are considerable, with rural areas having much higher
rates of severe sanitation deprivation (41% compared to 8%).

Information deprivation
Almost half a billion children (a quarter of the children in the developing world) lack access to either
radio, television, telephone or newspapers at home. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have 40% of
their children experiencing severe information deprivation. Rural children are significantly much
more likely that their urban counterparts to suffer from information deprivation, being three times as
likely to lack access to information (31% compared to 11%).

Water deprivation
Over 20% of children (nearly 375 million children) in the developing world have a more than 15-
minute walk to water or are using unsafe water sources. Sub-Saharan Africa has over 50% of its
children (167 million children) severely water deprived and the continent accounts for nearly half of
all cases of water deprivation in the developing world. Differences between urban and rural areas
were considerable, with 7% of children in urban areas and 27% of rural areas severely water
deprived. Over 60% of rural children in Sub-Saharan Africa are severely water deprived.

Food deprivation
Over 15% of children under five years in the developing world (91 million children) are severely
food deprived, over half of whom were in South Asia. Rates of food deprivation are twice as high in
rural areas than in urban areas. At the global level, there appears to be little difference between the
extent of food deprivation of girls and boys, although this varies between regions and countries.

Health deprivation
Nearly 15% of children in the developing world (265 million children) had not been immunised
against any diseases or had a recent illness involving diarrhoea and had not received any medical
advice or treatment. There is considerable regional variation, with Sub-Saharan Africa having over a
quarter of its children severely health deprived. A much larger proportion of rural children (21%) are
severely health deprived than urban children (8%). Gender differences at the global level were less
clear, with 14% of boys and 15% of girls severely health deprived, although there are more visible
differences within regions, with the South Asia and Middle East and North Africa regions having a
slight female disadvantage.

48
Education deprivation
Throughout the developing world, there are approximately 135 million children aged between 7 and
18 who are severely educationally deprived in terms of lacking any school education (no primary or
secondary education). Children in Sub-Saharan Africa are more likely to be affected by educational
deprivation, with one in three lacking any formal education. Rural areas are also more likely to be
educationally disadvantaged, with more than three times as many rural children lacking education
than their urban counterparts. Gender disparities are particularly evident in some regions. In the
Middle East and North Africa, for example, there are three times as many girls who are severely
educationally deprived than boys.

Results by region
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of severe deprivation with respect to four of the seven
indicators (Figure 4.2). More than half of this region’s children are severely shelter deprived (198
million), as well as water deprived (167 million). The region also suffers from the highest rates of
deprivation with respect to health (27%) and education (30%).

Figure 4.2: Percent of children who are severely deprived by region

East Asia

Latin America

Middle East

South Asia

Sub-Saharan Africa

World

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Percent
Food Sanitation Education Shelter
Water Information Health

However, South Asia has the highest percentages of children experiencing sanitation, information
and food deprivation, 61%, 40% and 27%, respectively. Over half of the world’s severely food
deprived children live in South Asia (53 million).

Children in East Asia are the least likely to be severely deprived with respect to five of the seven
indicators. This region has the lowest rates of severe sanitation deprivation. China has a rate of less
than 2% which contributes to the low regional average of 5%.

49
The study also revealed that there may be significant differences in rates of severe deprivation
amongst children within regions. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, only 19% of Mali children
live in severely water deprived conditions, compared to 90% of Rwandan children (see Appendix IV
for other examples).

Results by urban-rural locality

Rural children are more likely to be deprived than urban children with respect to all seven areas of
deprivation of basic human need (Figure 4.3).

Figure 4.3: Percent of urban and rural children severely deprived

The greatest difference between urban and rural children is in severe sanitation deprivation (41% in
rural areas compared with 9% in urban areas). Rural children are also almost three times more likely
than their urban counterparts to live in over-crowded conditions or in accommodation with only mud
flooring. This pattern of higher levels of severe deprivation amongst rural children is repeated in
nearly all regions.

Results by gender
Globally, girls are significantly educationally disadvantaged (Figure 4.4). They are at least 60%
more likely than boys to be severely educationally deprived (16% compared to 10%). They suffer

50
particularly high rates of disadvantage in the Middle East and North Africa, where they are three
times more likely than boys to be without primary or secondary school education.

On the other hand, girls and boys are roughly equally disadvantaged with respect to severe food
deprivation (15% and 16%, respectively) and health deprivation (14% and 15%, respectively). Boys
are more likely to be severely food deprived in all regions except in East Asia and South Asia where
severe food deprivation is more prevalent in girls. With respect to severe health deprivation, there is
a slight female disadvantage in South Asia and the Middle East and the North Africa regions. The
sub-Saharan African region has a mixed pattern of gender inequalities in health. While, at the
overall level, a slightly higher proportion of boys were severely health deprived compared to girls,
more than a dozen countries have a slight female disadvantage.

Figure 4.4: Percent of girls and boys severely deprived

Results of severe deprivation

Over half of the world’s children in developing countries - just over one billion children – are
severely deprived, defined as children suffering from one or more forms of severe deprivation of
basic human need. Two regions, South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have severe deprivation rates of
more than 80%. Rural children experience much higher levels of severe deprivation than urban
children. For example, more than 90% of rural children in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa live in
conditions of severe deprivation. Rural children in the Middle East and North Africa follow closely
behind at 89%.

51
Results of absolute poverty
Children experiencing two or more forms of severe deprivation are considered to be living in
absolute poverty. Over a third of all children (37% or 675 million) suffer from two or more different
types of severe deprivation, with considerable regional variation. Rates of absolute poverty are
highest in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, 65% (207 million) and 59% (330 million),
respectively. They are lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia and the Pacific
regions, 17% and 7%, respectively. Rural children face significantly higher levels of poverty than
urban children, with rates for absolute poverty rising to more than 70% in both rural sub-Saharan
Africa and rural South Asia.

Section One: Extent of severe deprivation

Food deprivation
Severe food deprivation is measured using data on severe anthropometric failure (i.e. a failure to
grow at normal rates to 'normal' weights and heights) in children under five. Since anthropometric
data are rarely collected on or available for children over five years of age, the data presented in this
report only refer to children under five in developing countries (see Chapter 3 for further discussion).

At an overall level, it is estimated that 15% of children under five years old (representing 91 million
children) in developing countries are severely food deprived (Figure 4.5 and Table 4.1). The lowest
rate is in the East Asia and Pacific region, at 5% (nearly 8 million children). South Asia has the
highest overall rate at 27% (54 million children).

Table 4.1: Children (under five years) suffering severe food deprivation

Number
Region %
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 5 2,885
South Asia 27 53,714
Middle East & North Africa 12 6,483
Sub-Saharan Africa 19 20,286
East Asia & Pacific 5 7,960
Developing world 15 91,328

52
Figure 4.5: Percent of children (under five years) suffering severe food deprivation

Differences in severe food deprivation are very pronounced between urban and rural areas. At the
global level, 10% of urban children under five (nearly 17 million children) and 18% of rural children
under five (74 million children) are severely food deprived (Figure 4.6 and Table 4.2).

Table 4.2: Urban and rural children (under five years) suffering severe food deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 3 965 10 1,926
South Asia 19 8,067 29 45,698
Middle East & North Africa 8 1,571 13 4,955
Sub-Saharan Africa 12 2,998 20 17,102
East Asia & Pacific 6 3,352 4 4,640
Developing world 10 16,953 18 74,321

53
Figure 4.6: Percent of rural and urban children (under five years) suffering severe food
deprivation

In urban areas, the lowest rate of food deprivation is in the Latin America and Caribbean region, at
3% (965,000 children) and highest in South Asia, at 19% (8 million children). In rural areas, the
lowest rate is in the East Asia and Pacific region, at 4% (under 5 million children) and highest in
South Asia at 29% (nearly 46 million children).

Gender differences in severe food deprivation appear to be relatively unimportant amongst children
under five years (Figure 4.7 and Table 4.3). At the overall level, it is estimated that 16% of boys
under five (48 million boys) and 15% of girls under five (44 million girls) are severely food
deprived.

Table 4.3: Boys and girls (under five years) suffering severe food deprivation

Region Boys Girls

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 6 1,557 5 1,332
South Asia 26 26,504 28 27,257
Middle East & North Africa 12 3,494 11 3,025
Sub-Saharan Africa 19 10,501 18 9,790
East Asia & Pacific 6 5,947 3 2,323
Developing world 16 48,003 15 43,727

54
Figure 4.7: Percent of girls and boys (under five years) suffering severe food deprivation

The Latin America and Caribbean region has the lowest rates of food deprivation for boys at 6% (1.5
million boys). East Asia has the lowest rate for girls at 2.9% (2.3 million girls). South Asia has the
highest rates of food deprivation for both boys and girls, at 26% (26.5 million boys) and 28% (27
million girls). While, at the overall level, gender differences in severe food deprivation are not clear,
it is apparent that slight differences do occur within regions, as Table 4.3 shows.

Water deprivation
At the overall level, it is estimated that 21% of children (nearly 376 million children) are severely
water deprived (Figure 4.8 and Table 4.4). This means over a third of a billion children have more
than a 15 minute walk to their source of water (thus limiting the quantity they use), or are using
unsafe sources of water (i.e. surface water). Of the five regions, the lowest rate is in the Latin
America and Caribbean region, where 7% (14 million children) are severely water deprived. Sub-
Saharan Africa has by far the highest rate, at 53% (167 million children). The East Asia and Pacific
region has a relatively low rate of severe water deprivation, at 10% (58.5 million children).

55
Table 4.4: Children suffering severe water deprivation

Region Number
%
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 7 14,318
South Asia 18 99,611
Middle East & North Africa 24 36,199
Sub-Saharan Africa 53 166,877
East Asia & Pacific 10 58,565
Developing world 21 375,569

Figure 4.8: Percent of children suffering severe water deprivation

There are considerable differences in severe water deprivation between urban and rural areas in each
of the five regions (Figure 4.9 and Table 4.5). At the overall level, 7% of urban areas (nearly 41
million children) are severely water deprived. The rate in rural areas is over three times higher, at
27% (335 million children).

56
Table 4.5: Urban and rural children suffering severe water deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 1 1,434 20 12,885
South Asia 9 11,192 21 88,649
Middle East & North Africa 5 2,626 34 33,674
Sub-Saharan Africa 19 14,685 63 152,039
East Asia & Pacific 6 10,943 11 47,737
Developing world 7 40,880 27 334,983

Figure 4.9: Percent of rural and urban children suffering severe water deprivation

In urban areas, the lowest rate of severe water deprivation is in the Latin America and Caribbean
region at 1% (1.4 million children) and the highest urban rate is in Sub-Saharan Africa at 19% (15
million children). The other regions all have urban rates of water deprivation below 10%.

Rates of severe water deprivation in rural areas are considerably higher. The East Asia and Pacific
region has the lowest rural rate by far, at 11% (nearly 48 million children). All other regions have
rural rates over 20%, with the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa at 63% (152 million children). The
Middle East and North Africa region has the second highest rural rate of 34% (34 million children)
although the geographic features of the region (i.e. desert and semi-desert regions) limit the
availability of water. The South Asia and Latin America and Caribbean regions have similar rural
rates of 21% (89 million children) and 20% (13 million children) respectively.

57
Sanitation deprivation
For this report, severe sanitation deprivation is defined as a child having NO access to ANY
sanitation facilities of any description. Thus, children with sanitation facilities which are considered
not improved (e.g. public or shared latrines, open pit latrines and bucket latrines) by the Joint
Monitoring Programme are not counted as severely deprived in this report, although it is
acknowledged that the use of a bucket or open pit latrine is a far from appropriate or adequate
method of waste disposal.23

At the overall level, it is estimated that 31% of children (nearly 567 million children) in developing
countries are severely sanitation deprived, lacking ANY form of sanitation facility, improved or
otherwise (Figure 4.10 and Table 4.6). The lowest rate is in the East Asia and Pacific region, at 5%
(30 million children) and the highest in South Asia, at 61% (344 million children). Sub-Saharan
Africa also has a relatively high rate at 38% (120 million children).

Table 4.6: Children suffering severe sanitation deprivation

Number
Region %
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 17 33,472
South Asia 61 343,604
Middle East & North Africa 26 39,742
Sub-Saharan Africa 38 119,833
East Asia & Pacific 5 30,188
Developing world 31 566,839

23
Data concerning sanitation collected by UNICEF and the WHO under the Joint Monitoring Programme refer to
'improved' sanitation facilities (connections to public sewers or septic systems, simple and ventilated improved pit
latrines, and pour/flush latrines). ‘Not improved’ facilities include public or shared latrines, open pit latrines and bucket
latrines.

58
Figure 4.10: Percent of children suffering severe sanitation deprivation

Differences between urban and rural areas are considerable, confirming the findings of the GWSSA
results (WHO, UNICEF, WSSCC, 2000). At the overall level, the urban rate of severe sanitation
deprivation is 9% (51 million children) (Figure 4.11 and Table 4.7). The rural rate is nearly five
times higher, at 41% (516 million children). Over half a billion children in rural areas lack access to
any form of sanitation facility.

Table 4.7: Urban and rural children suffering severe sanitation deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 6 7,950 41 25,580
South Asia 19 24,292 74 319,135
Middle East & North Africa 5 2,462 38 37,250
Sub-Saharan Africa 12 8,966 46 110,902
East Asia & Pacific 4 6,948 5 23,223
Developing world 9 50,617 41 516,089

59
Figure 4.11: Percent of rural and urban children suffering severe sanitation deprivation

With regard to sanitation deprivation in urban areas, the East Asia and Pacific and Middle East and
North Africa regions both have relatively low rates, at 4% (less than 7 million children) and 5% (just
over 2 million children), respectively. The highest urban rate is in South Asia, at 19% (24 million
children). In rural areas, the lowest rate is in the East Asia and Pacific region, at 5% (23 million
children), considerably lower than all other regions – although this could be explained by the high
use of public sanitation facilities in China. Each of the other regions has rural sanitation deprivation
rates above 35%, with South Asia having the highest rate of 74% (319 million children). The sub-
Saharan Africa and Latin America and Caribbean regions both have rural rates over 40%.

Health deprivation
A range of factors determines the health of children and no single indicator can sufficiently reflect
the burden of disease or complete extent of morbidity. For the purposes of this report, a child was
considered severely health deprived if they had not received ANY of the eight immunisations
recommended by the WHO’s expanded programme of immunisation (EPI) or if they had had
untreated diarrhoea in the two weeks prior to the DHS survey interview (see Chapter 3 for further
discussion).

It is estimated that, at the overall level, 15% of children in developing countries (265 million
children) are severely health deprived (Figures 4.12 and Table 4.8). The lowest rate is in East Asia
and the Pacific at 3% (18 million children) and the highest rates are in South Asia and Sub-Saharan
Africa, with 23% (128 million children) and 27% (84 million children), respectively.

60
Table 4.8: Children suffering severe health deprivation

Number
Region %
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 7 12,770
South Asia 23 128,711
Middle East & North Africa 14 20,949
Sub-Saharan Africa 27 84,233
East Asia & Pacific 3 18,113
Developing world 15 264,776

Figure 4.12: Percent of children suffering severe health deprivation

As with the other measures of severe deprivation, there are considerable differences between urban
and rural areas (Figure 4.13 and Table 4.9). At the overall level, 8% of urban children (47 million
children) and 21% of rural children (263 million children) are severely health deprived.

61
Table 4.9: Urban and rural children suffering severe health deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 4 5,734 11 6,821
South Asia 14 17,169 26 110,703
Middle East & North Africa 6 3,392 18 17,482
Sub-Saharan Africa 13 9,971 30 72,652
East Asia & Pacific 6 10,769 13 55,478
Developing world 8 47,035 21 263,136

Figure 4.13: Percent of rural and urban children suffering severe health deprivation

The lowest urban rate is in the Latin America and Caribbean region, at 4% (nearly 6 million
children), although the Middle East and North Africa and East Asia and Pacific regions both have
low rates, 4% and 6% respectively. The highest urban rates are in Sub-Saharan Africa (13%, nearly
10 million children) and South Asia (13%, nearly 11 million children). In rural areas, the lowest rate
of severe health deprivation is in the Latin America and Caribbean region, at 11% (6 million
children); and the highest rate is in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 30% (73 million children).

Figure 4.14 and Table 4.10 presents the data on severe health deprivation by gender. At the overall
level, the rate of severe health deprivation in boys is slightly less than it is for girls, 14% (133 million
boys) compared to 15% (132 million girls). At the regional level, the lowest rate of severe health
deprivation for boys is in East Asia and the Pacific 3% (10 million boys). The highest rate for boys
is in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 26% (43 million boys). The East Asia and Pacific region also has the

62
lowest rate for girls, at 3% (under 9 million girls) and Sub-Saharan Africa again has the highest rate,
at 26% (41 million girls).

Table 4.10: Boys and girls suffering severe health deprivation

Region Boys Girls

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 7 6,366 7 6,497
South Asia 22 63,555 24 65,245
Middle East & North Africa 13 9,864 15 11,118
Sub-Saharan Africa 27 43,436 26 40,661
East Asia & Pacific 3 10,124 3 8,622
Developing world 14 133,345 15 132,144

Figure 4.14: Percent of girls and boys suffering severe health deprivation

It should be noted that diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis, which account for a
large proportion of child deaths and ill health in the developing world, are not measured by these
data. It is likely that the burden of ill health is actually far greater than is implied by the measures of
severe health deprivation used in this report. What is certain is that the decline of public health
systems and services means that appropriate care is rarely available, affordable or provided, and so
increasing numbers of children will continue to suffer and die from a range of causes, a large number
of which (such as diarrhoea and the EPI six targeted diseases) are preventable.

63
Shelter deprivation
More than one in three of all children experience shelter deprivation, defined in terms of living in
accommodation with more than five people per room or which has mud flooring (Figure 4.15). This
represents more than 614 million of the developing world’s children (Table 4.11).

The prevalence risks for shelter deprivation vary enormously between regions. Sub-Saharan Africa
has a prevalence rate which is double the world’s average, at 62%, whereas South Asia and North
Africa and the Middle East have prevalence risks, of 45% each. By contrast, only 8% of children
living in East Asia and the Pacific are severely shelter deprived.

Table 4.11: Children suffering severe shelter deprivation

Region % Number
(‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 23 43,727
South Asia 45 253,506
Middle East & North Africa 45 69,471
Sub-Saharan Africa 62 198,027
East Asia & Pacific 8 49,508
Developing world 34 614,238

Figure 4.15: Percent of children suffering severe shelter deprivation

Rural children are significantly more likely than their urban counterparts to be living in
circumstances of severe shelter deprivation (42% compared to 15%) (Figure 4.16 and Table 4.12).
Whereas more than 530 million of the developing world’s rural children are severely shelter
deprived, only 83 million urban children are affected by the same conditions. However, a note of
caution is required in the interpretation of these findings as the indicator of severe shelter deprivation

64
used in this study may under-estimate the dwelling related problems experienced by children living
in urban areas, e.g. violence, homelessness (see Chapter 3 for further discussion).

Notwithstanding this, there are important discrepancies between regions with regards to prevalence
rates amongst rural children. Rates of severe shelter deprivation are highest for rural children in sub-
Saharan Africa (73%, representing 176 million children), and lowest for urban children in East Asia
and the Pacific (5%, representing 8 million). Sub-Sahara Africa, as well as having the highest rates
of rural children living in shelter deprivation, also has the highest proportions of urban children
living in those same conditions (28%, representing 21 million children).

However, inequalities amongst children within regions is greatest in North Africa and the Middle
East, where rural children are more than four times as likely as urban children in the same region to
be severely shelter deprived (62% compared to 15%).

Table 4.12: Urban and rural children suffering severe shelter deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

% Number % Number
(‘000s) (‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 12 14,987 46 28,738
South Asia 24 30,142 52 223,135
Middle East & North Africa 15 8,041 62 61,288
Sub-Saharan Africa 28 21,487 73 176,336
East Asia & Pacific 5 8,511 10 41,286
Developing world 15 83,169 42 530,783

65
Figure 4.16: Percent of rural and urban children suffering severe shelter deprivation

Education deprivation
Throughout the developing world, 13% of all children (134 million) aged between 7 and 18 are
educationally deprived, defined in terms of lacking either a primary or secondary school education
(Figure 4.17 and Table 4.13)24. Sub-Saharan Africa has an above-average prevalence rate of 30%
(50 million children), as does the Middle East and North Africa at 23% (19 million children) and
South Asia at 19% (57 million children), whereas Latin America and the Caribbean and East Asia
have relatively small rates, at 3% and 1%, respectively.

Table 4.13: Children (aged 7-18) suffering severe educational deprivation

Region % Number
(‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 3 4,028
South Asia 19 57,134
Middle East & North Africa 23 18,608
Sub-Saharan Africa 30 50,274
East Asia & Pacific 1 4,139
Developing world 13 134,183

24
The Education For All 2000 Assessment – Statistical Document released for the World Education Forum in Dakar,
Senegal, April 2000 showed that 82% of primary-school-age children were enrolled in and/or attended school.
However, 120 million primary-school-age children were not in school.

66
Figure 4.17: Percent of children (aged 7-18) suffering severe educational deprivation

There are significant urban-rural discrepancies in lack of access to education. Seventeen percent of
all rural children aged between 7 and 18 experience severe education deprivation, compared to only
5% of all urban children (Figure 4.18 and Table 4.14). Prevalence rates of severe education
deprivation are higher amongst rural children in every single region of the developing world.
Overall rural children are at least three times more likely than urban children to be severely
educationally deprived (17% compared to only 5%). However, the Middle East and North Africa and
Sub-Saharan Africa regions have well above-average prevalence rates of severe education
deprivation amongst rural children, at 33% and 35%, respectively.

With regards to urban children, higher than average prevalence rates of educational deprivation exist
in the Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia regions, 13% and 10%, respectively. Some regions exhibit
large inequalities between urban and rural children. For example, rural children in the Middle East
and North Africa are at least five times more likely than their urban counterparts to be severely
educationally deprived (33% compared to only 6%).

Table 4.14: Urban and rural children suffering severe educational deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

% Number % Number
(‘000s) (‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 2 1,541 7 2,428
South Asia 10 6,892 22 50,055
Middle East & North Africa 6 1,768 33 16,877

67
 Sub-Saharan Africa 13 5,556 35 44,700
East Asia & Pacific 1 623 1 3,542
Developing world 5 16,380 17 117,602

Figure 4.18: Percent of rural and urban children (aged 7-18) suffering severe educational
deprivation

Girls are much more likely than boys to be at risk of being educational deprived. Globally, they are
over one and a half times more likely than boys to suffer severe education deprivation (16%
compared to 10%) (Figure 4.19 and Table 4.15). There are also many more girls than boys
throughout the world who are educationally deprived. It is estimated that there are over 80 million
girls who have received neither a primary nor secondary school education, compared with 54 million
boys.

This study also reveals significant gender discrepancies in access to education both between regions
and within them. The regions of the Middle East and North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa have
above-average deprivation prevalence rates amongst girls, at 34% and 32%, respectively. However,
the greatest gender inequalities within regions exist in the Middle East and North Africa region
where girls who suffer severe education deprivation outnumber boys by almost three to one. The
East Asia and the Pacific region has the greatest gender equality with respect to access to education,
whereas Latin America and the Caribbean reveals a very small gender bias against boys rather than
girls.

68
Table 4.15: Boys and girls (aged 7-18) suffering severe educational deprivation

Region Boys Girls

% Number % Number
(‘000s) (‘000s)
Latin America & the Caribbean 4 2,148 3 1,822
South Asia 14 21,015 25 35,983
Middle East & North Africa 12 5,100 34 13,491
Sub-Saharan Africa 27 23,293 32 27,056
East Asia & Pacific 1 2,123 1 1,946
Developing world 10 53,679 16 80,299

Figure 4.19: Percent of girls and boys (aged 7-18) suffering severe educational deprivation

Information deprivation
Globally, it is estimated that 25% of all children aged three years and above are severely information
deprived, representing almost 448 million children (Figure 4.20 and Table 4.16)25. This means that
one in four children in developing countries lack access to TV, radio, telephone or newspapers.
Nevertheless, these global figures disguise the real magnitude of information deprivation in some
regions. Analysis by region reveals that 40% of South Asian and 39% of Sub-Saharan African
children suffer from severe information deprivation (226 and 124 million children, respectively). On
the other hand, lower than average prevalence rates were found in the regions of Latin America and
the Caribbean (10%) and East Asia and the Pacific (7%).

25
The authors know of no previous attempts to measure information deprivation amongst children.

69
Table 4.16: Children (three years and above) suffering severe information deprivation

Region % Number
(‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 10 18,381
South Asia 40 225,525
Middle East & North Africa 23 34,966
Sub-Saharan Africa 39 124,283
East Asia & Pacific 7 44,678
Developing world 25 447,834

Figure 4.20: Percent of children (three years and above) suffering severe information
deprivation

Severe information deprivation amongst children is far more extensive in rural areas than in urban
areas: 31% (388 million children) compared to 11% (60 million children) (Figure 4.21 and Table
4.17). The highest prevalence rates amongst rural children are in South Asia at 47% (202 million
children) and Sub-Saharan Africa at 45% (109 million children), whilst the lowest rates affect
children in East Asia and the Pacific at 9% (37 million children). Amongst urban children, the
regions with highest prevalence rates are again Sub-Saharan Africa (20%) and South Asia (19%).
On the other hand, the greatest inequalities in access to information are amongst children living in
Latin America and the Caribbean, where there are almost four rural children who are deprived for
every one urban child (19% compared to only 5%).

70
Table 4.17: Urban and rural children (3 years and older) suffering severe information
deprivation

Region Urban Children Rural Children

% Number % Number
(‘000s) (‘000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 5 6,646 19 11,748
South Asia 19 23,656 47 201,946
Middle East & North Africa 14 7,440 28 27,515
Sub-Saharan Africa 20 15,227 45 108,977
East Asia & Pacific 4 7,122 9 37,415
Developing world 11 60,090 31 387,601

Figure 4.21: Percent of rural and urban children (3 years and older) suffering severe
information deprivation

Section Two: Distribution of severe deprivation

This next section compares the extent of severe deprivation among the regions of the developing
world. For the purposes of this study, severe deprivation has been defined as children experiencing
one or more severe deprivations of basic human need. Table 4.18 and Figure 4.22 show the number
and proportion of children in the five UNICEF regions suffering one or more severe deprivation.

71
Table 4.18: Children suffering severe deprivation

Number
Region %
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 35 68,493
South Asia 82 459,444
Middle East & North Africa 65 99,354
Sub-Saharan Africa 83 264,460
East Asia & Pacific 23 137,054
Developing world 56 1,028,804

Figure 4.22: Percent of children suffering severe deprivation

At the global level, 56% of children in the developing world (more than 1 billion children) are
severely deprived of basic human needs. The lowest rate is in the East Asia and Pacific region
(23%), while rates are highest in South Asia (82%) and Sub-Saharan Africa (83%). All but two of
the regions have severe deprivation rates above 50%.

Urban-rural differences are apparent, with 31% of children (over 175 million children) in urban areas
and 67% of children (853 million children) in rural areas being severely deprived in at least one way
(Figure 4.23 and Table 4.19).

72
Table 4.19: Urban and rural children suffering severe deprivation

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 20 25,934 67 42,570
South Asia 48 61,174 92 398,270
Middle East & North Africa 32 17,669 82 81,651
Sub-Saharan Africa 53 40,578 93 223,969
East Asia & Pacific 17 30,050 25 106,656
Developing world 31 175,405 67 853,115

Figure 4.23: Percent of rural and urban children suffering severe deprivation

The East Asia and Pacific region has the lowest rates for both urban and rural areas, at 17% and 25%,
while Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates for both urban and rural areas - 53% and 93%,
respectively. South Asia also has high rates in both urban and rural areas, at 48% (61 million
children) and 92% (398 million children).

73
Section Three: Distribution of absolute poverty
The final section of this chapter compares the extent of absolute poverty among the different regions
in the developing world. For the purposes of this report, absolute poverty is defined as multiple
severe deprivation of basic human need - i.e. children who suffer from two or more different severe
deprivations.

Table 4.20: Children suffering from absolute poverty

Number
Region %
('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 17 33,085
South Asia 59 329,613
Middle East & North Africa 40 61,153
Sub-Saharan Africa 65 206,927
East Asia & Pacific 7 43,471
Developing world 37 674,249

Figure 4.24: Percent of children in absolute poverty

At the global level, it is estimated that 37% of children in the developing world (over 674 million
children) are living in absolute poverty. The lowest rate is found in the East Asia and Pacific region,
at 7% (43 million children) and the highest rate is in Sub-Saharan Africa, at 65% (nearly 207 million
children). South Asia also has a high rate of absolute poverty, with 59% (320 million children) of
children suffering two or more forms of severe deprivation.

74
Most children living in absolute poverty live in rural areas, although rates in the urban areas of some
regions are high (Figure 4.25 and Table 4.21). At the overall level, the urban rate of absolute poverty
is 12% (65 million children), while the rural rate is much higher at 48% (610 million children).

Table 4.21: Urban and rural children in absolute poverty

Region Urban children Rural children

Number Number
% %
('000s) ('000s)
Latin America & Caribbean 6 7,168 41 25,769
South Asia 22 28,234 70 301,838
Middle East & North Africa 9 4,978 57 56,222
Sub-Saharan Africa 25 19,014 78 188,124
East Asia & Pacific 3 5,385 9 38,276
Developing world 12 64,778 48 610,229

Figure 4.25: Percent of rural and urban children in absolute poverty

The lowest urban and rural rates are found in the East Asia and Pacific region, at 3% (just over 5
million children) and 9% (38 million children), respectively. The highest urban rates of absolute
poverty are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; with Sub-Saharan Africa's urban absolute poverty
rate at 25% (19 million children) compared to South Asia's 22% (28 million children). Absolute
poverty rates in rural areas are above 50% in all regions (except Latin America and the Caribbean
East Asia and Pacific), with rates in both South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa at 70%-plus.

75
76
 Chapter 5

Nature and Severity of Deprivation and Poverty amongst Households

with Children

Introduction
The purpose of this chapter is to examine both the distribution and the nature of absolute poverty in
the developing world at household level. The previous chapters have been concerned with severe
deprivation and absolute poverty measured at the level of the individual child. However, policy
interventions to combat poverty and deprivation are more often targeted at the family or household.
It is therefore of considerable policy importance to understand both the extent and distribution of
absolute poverty at household level. It is also important to understand which are the most frequently
occurring combinations of severe deprivation that result in absolute poverty.

Deprivation and poverty amongst households with children

Chapter 4 described the regional distribution of severe deprivation and absolute poverty of children
in the developing world. Tables 5.1 and 5.2 compare the results discussed in Chapter 4 with the
distribution of severe deprivation and absolute poverty measured at the level of households with
children. It should be noted that households with children may contain some children who are
severely deprived and others who suffer from no deprivations (e.g. the girls may be educationally
deprived but not the boys). However, this situation is comparatively rare. Similarly, a household
with children may be defined as absolutely poor (e.g. suffering from two or more different types of
severe deprivation) without any of the individual children in the household experiencing two
deprivations (e.g. a young child may have not been immunised and an older child may never have
attended school).

Table 5.1: Distribution of severe deprivation at individual and household level

Region Children Households with

children
% Number % Number
(000s) (000s)
Sub-Saharan Africa 83 264,460 84 82,336
South Asia 82 459,444 81 157,077
Middle East & North Africa 65 99,354 62 27,898
Latin America & Caribbean 35 68,493 30 24,277
East Asia & Pacific 23 137,054 20 65,518
Developing World 56 1,028,804 48 357,107

Table 5.1 shows that, while over half (56%) of the developing world’s children suffer from severe
deprivation, just under half (48%) of households with children are in a similar situation. This is
because, in most regions, the risk of severe deprivation increases with household size. Households
with more children are often more likely to be deprived than households with fewer children.

77
Table 5.2: Distribution of absolute poverty at individual and household level

Region Children Households with

children
% Number % Number
(000s) (000s)
Sub Saharan Africa 65 206,927 68 67,041
South Asia 59 329,613 63 122,320
Middle East & North Africa 40 61,153 41 18,169
Latin America & Caribbean 17 33,085 14 11,623
East Asia & Pacific 7 43,471 6 18,055

Developing World 37 674,249 32 237,207

Table 5.2 shows that, in the developing world as a whole, 37% of children are living in absolute
poverty compared with 32% of households with children. However, in both Sub-Saharan Africa and
South Asia, there are slightly higher rates of poverty amongst households with children than amongst
individual children. It should be noted that household sizes are significantly larger on average in
these two regions than in the rest of the developing world.26

Intensity of poverty and deprivation

The most common measure of poverty is the proportion of individuals, households or families that
fall beneath the poverty line. If q is the number of people identified as poor and n the total number
of people in the community, then the head count ratio measure H is q/n. The head count ratio ranges
from 0 (nobody is poor) to 1 (everybody is poor).

This simple indicator provides useful information on the incidence of poverty among the population.
However, the head count ratio does not provide information on the distribution of poverty amongst
the poor nor does it capture the intensity of poverty, i.e. how far the poor fall below a given poverty
line (Sen, 1981; Hagenaars, 1986).

The use of the head count ratio has been under severe attack for 30 years (Atkinson, 1979). In 1968,
Watts (1968, p326) noted that it had "Little but its simplicity to recommend it" and Sen (1979, p295)
has remarked that, considering its inadequacies, the degree of support commanded by this measure is
"quite astonishing".

The head count ratio can even be dangerous for monitoring the effectiveness of pro-poor policies.
Successful policies aimed at raising the well-being of the poorest of the poor will not affect the head
count ratio if their new living standard is still below the poverty line. On the other hand, successful
pro-poor policies aimed at persons just below the poverty line will reduce the head count ratio.
Therefore, for anti-poverty policy purposes, it is of crucial importance that the intensity/severity of
poverty is measured along with the extent of poverty (Gordon and Spicker, 1998). Table 5.3
provides some information on the intensity of severe deprivation and absolute poverty amongst
households with children by region.

26
Similar numbers of children live in India and China but there are many more households with children in China than in
India.

78
Table 5.3: Severity of deprivation for households with children (%)

Developing Sub- South Middle East Latin East Asia &

Number of
world Saharan Asia &North America & Pacific
deprivations
Africa Africa Caribbean
0 52 16 19 40 70 80
1 16 16 18 22 15 14
2 12 19 23 16 8 4
3 10 19 21 12 4 1
4 6 16 13 8 2 1
5 3 10 5 3 1 -
6 1 4 1 1 - -
7 - 1 - - - -

Total 100 100 100 100 100 100

Table 5.3 shows that, of the 32% of households with children in the developing world that are living
in absolute poverty (suffering two or more different types of severe deprivation), 12% suffer from
two deprivations, 10% from three and 10% from four or more. There is considerable regional
variation, with the regions with the highest absolute child poverty head counts also having the
severest poverty. In Sub-Saharan Africa, almost a third (31%) of households with children suffer
from four or more different severe deprivations of basic human need. In South Asia, almost one in
five (19%) of households with children are similarly affected whereas both the Latin America &
Caribbean and the East Asia & Pacific region have comparatively few households with children that
suffer from these high levels of multiple deprivation.

Combinations of severe deprivations

Information about the intensity of poverty is important for accurate monitoring of the effectiveness
of anti-poverty policies. However, in order to develop reliable anti-poverty policies, it is necessary
to know both the distribution and frequency with which combinations of severe deprivations occur.
This way, policies can be targeted to tackle the most important child deprivation problems in a region
or country. Table 5.4 shows the ten most frequently occurring combinations of deprivations which
affect 5% or more of the households with children in the developing world.

In Table 5.4, the combination of deprivations that occurs with the greatest frequency in a region is
highlighted in bold. Globally, shelter and sanitation deprivation are the most frequently occurring
combination of severe deprivations in the developing world, affecting 15% of households with
children. Information deprivation - in combination with either shelter deprivation or sanitation
deprivation - affects 28% of households with children. However, there are considerable regional
variations. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the most prevalent combination of deprivations is severe shelter
and water deprivation, which is suffered by two out of five (39%) households with children. In
South Asia, severe sanitation and information deprivation is the largest problem and, in the Middle
East and North Africa, severe education and shelter deprivation occur more frequently than any other
combination of deprivations.

79
Table 5.4: Combinations of deprivations suffered by children in households in the developing
world (%)

Deprivation World Sub- South Middle Latin East

Combination Saharan Asia East & America Asia
Africa North
Africa
Shelter & Sanitation 15 30 32 15 8 1
Shelter & Information 14 34 29 15 4 2
Sanitation & Information 14 23 36 7 4 1
Shelter & Water 9 39 9 14 4 1
Sanitation & Water 9 25 14 12 3 1
Shelter & Education 8 26 13 17 2 -
Sanitation & Education 8 18 16 12 2 -
Water & Information 8 28 11 7 2 2
Education & Information 7 21 14 9 1 -
Water & Education 5 19 5 11 1 -

Absolute Poverty 32 68 63 41 14 6
Note: Only deprivation combinations that affect 5% or more of the developing world’s households with children are
shown. The table does not sum as households with children can suffer from combinations of more than two
different deprivations (e.g. 3 deprivations, 4 deprivations, see Table 5.3).

It is very clear, even from this preliminary examination of combinations of severe deprivations, that,
in order to eradicate absolute child poverty in the developing world, different polices will be required
in different regions and countries. A global, ‘one size fits all’ anti-poverty policy is unlikely to work
effectively or efficiently. If the commitment of the governments of the world to halve absolute
poverty amongst children by 2015 is to be achieved, then priorities will need to be set that are region
and country specific and based upon the best available scientific evidence. In particular, the
problems of severe shelter and sanitation deprivation will need to be tackled.

80
 Chapter 6

Conclusions and Policy Implications

Introduction
This research has produced the first scientific estimates of absolute child poverty in the developing
world. Over a third of children (37%) live in absolute poverty and over half (56%) suffer from
severe deprivation of basic human need. This means that, in the developing world, over 1 billion
children are severely deprived and 675 million are absolutely poor. This is shocking given that
severe deprivations of basic human need are those circumstances that are highly likely to have
serious adverse consequences for the health, well-being and development of children. Severe
deprivations harm children in both the short term and the long term. Many of the absolutely poor
children surveyed in this research will have died or had their health profoundly damaged by the time
this report is published, as a direct consequence of their appalling living conditions.

Absolute poverty has been measured within the internationally agreed framework of children’s
rights, using a definition of absolute poverty that has been agreed to by 117 Governments as: "a
condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking
water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on
income but also on access to social services." The definitions used in this study to identify severe
deprivation of children’s basic human needs represent much worse living conditions than are usually
reported by UN agencies. They measure absolute poverty in such severe terms that any reasonable
person would consider that these living conditions were unacceptable and damaging. No
government or parent wants children to have to live like this. Therefore, this final chapter looks at
what lessons can be learnt from this research and what could be done to help eradicate absolute child
poverty during the 21st Century.

The causes of absolute poverty

This research has shown that the severe deprivations which affect the greatest number of children are
shelter, sanitation, information and water deprivation. Fewer children suffer from severe deprivation
of food, health and education. This, in part, demonstrates the success of international agencies and
donors that have focused on improving children’s access to health and education services and
preventing malnutrition. However, lessons can be drawn from the experiences of industrialised
countries in combating poverty and improving children’s health. During the 19th and first half of the
20th Centuries, the major improvements in standard of living and life expectancy of children in
industrialised countries was as a result of significant public investment in housing, sewerage and
water systems. Safe water, housing and sanitation facilities are a prerequisite for good health and
education. If children are made chronically sick as a result of unsafe water supplies or inadequate
sanitation or overcrowded housing conditions, then they cannot go to school even if free high quality
education is available. Similarly, good health facilities can help alleviate the symptoms of chronic
sickness but they cannot tackle the causes. Food aid will not be effective at reducing malnutrition if
children suffer from chronic diarrhoea as a result of a lack of sanitation facilities and/or unsafe water.

This evidence points to the conclusion that UNICEF and other international agencies, governments
and donors may need to give a higher priority to tackling the problems of severe shelter, sanitation
and water deprivation than is presently the case.

81
There has been some recent debate within the international community about the need to tackle the
problems of housing, water and sanitation deprivation. However, much of this debate has focused on
facilitating the private sector to provide additional investment and infrastructure in urban areas. This
research shows that far more children in rural areas suffer from severe deprivation than their urban
peers27. Since the prime motivation of the private sector is the need to optimise profits, it is
extremely unlikely that it will be able to provide water and sewerage infrastructure in all poor rural
areas as this would not be profitable. The only way to provide all absolutely poor rural children with
adequate housing, sanitation and water facilities is by public investment to pay for these
infrastructure facilities. International agencies could be more active in campaigning for greater
shelter, sanitation and water infrastructure investment in rural areas of the developing world.
Improvements to this rural infrastructure would be the most effective method of reducing absolute
child poverty.

Sanitation
Children are particularly affected by poor sanitation, since it is directly linked to the most serious of
childhood illnesses – diarrhoea and malnutrition. Sanitation facilities provided for communities may
often be unsuitable for children. If facilities are constructed for adults, they may be too large for
young children and present obvious dangers (such as falling in); facilities lacking adequate lighting
may intimidate young children wanting to use them at night; children wanting to use public facilities
may be made to wait while adults use them first, etc. The needs of adolescent girls and young
women for sanitation and privacy also need to be a priority.

Sanitation facilities require effective drainage systems, which carry sewage away from communities.
Children use fields and open spaces to play, areas that are commonly used for defecation in the
absence of public or private facilities. UNICEF is already committed to improving children’s access
to sanitation and should support organisations which try to establish and maintain public sanitation
facilities. Such organisations have started to provide child-friendly facilities, which children can use
in safety, without fear or intimidation.28 The provision of sanitation facilities in schools is also
important and should be supported.

There has been some reluctance in the past to highlight the need to improve sanitation facilities as
many people do not like to talk about human excreta disposal and donors have gained greater
positive publicity for helping improve children’s health and education facilities than for funding
latrines. UNICEF could play a lead role in both raising funds and highlighting the crucial
importance of eradicating severe sanitation deprivation as a method of helping eradicate absolute
child poverty. Toilet facilities are a priority for children.

27
Approximately 530 million rural children suffer from severe shelter deprivation compared with 85 million urban
children; 515 million rural children suffer from severe sanitation deprivation compared with 50 million urban
children; 335 million rural children suffer from severe water deprivation compared with 40 million urban children –
see Chapter 4 for details.
28
One NGO running such schemes is Gramalaya. Based in Tamil Nadu in India, the scheme came about after
consultation with the local community. Facilities are constructed adjacent to community toilets. Water with soap is
provided for hand washing after defecation. A caretaker from the community toilet teaches hand washing and its
importance to the children and observes children’s hygiene behaviours. Facilities are provided free to children.
(http://gramalaya.org/childtoilets.html)

82
Water
Severe water deprivation is an issue of both quality and quantity. Improving water quality is clearly
important for the health of children. Children should not have to use unsafe (or unimproved) sources
of water, such as lakes, ponds or streams, as these may become contaminated and dangerous.
Communities need to have access to safe water (piped water, stand-pumps, covered wells etc.),
through services that they can afford, run and maintain themselves. Such facilities will need to be
located and provided near to where people live, to cut journey times for collection. Distance to the
water source is of special significance to children since they are often help collect and carry the
water. Carrying water over a long distance can result in injuries, especially to necks and backs, and
the time spent collecting water can impact on school attendance.

The distance children need to go in order to get to their water supply is arguably of greater
importance than water quality (Esrey, 1996). Water quantity is directly linked to distance to water
supply, with less water used the further away the water source. The measure of severe water
deprivation used in the report takes into account the issue of distance to water source, something the
Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) of UNICEF and WHO does not currently measure (i.e. it
focused on water quality issues only). It is important that UNICEF and other international
organisations, governments and donors take steps to help increase both the quality and quantity of
water available to poor children if absolute poverty is to be eradicated.

Shelter
Overcrowded dwellings facilitate the transmission of disease (e.g. respiratory infections, Measles). It
can also result in increased stress and mental health problems for both adults and children and lead to
accidents and injuries. Poor quality shelter, constructed from inferior materials, does not protect
against the elements. Successive UN conferences and conventions have sought to address the issue
of poor housing and shelter deprivation in both developed and developing countries but progress on
meeting children’s basic shelter needs is slow. Considerable international attention has focused on
improving the housing conditions in urban slums, shanty towns and favelas. However, this research
has shown that severe shelter deprivation blights the lives of 42% of rural children in developing
countries compared with 15% of children in urban areas. Improving the housing conditions of
families with children in rural areas needs to be given a higher priority.

Food
This research used severe anthropometric failure, i.e. children more than minus 3 standard deviations
below the international reference population median, as a measure of severe food deprivation.
However, data on children’s height and weights are only usually collected for children up to 5 years
old. There is good scientific evidence that older children (particularly during puberty) may also be at
risk of suffering from malnutrition. Anthropometric data need to be collected on older children, so
that more accurate estimates of child malnutrition in the developing world can be made.

A technical innovation of this research has been the development and use of a composite index of
anthropometric failure (CIAF), based on the work of Peter Svedberg (2000). It provides a more
comprehensive indicator of malnutrition than existing measures, and thus may be more appropriate
for use in target setting and resource allocation. UNICEF may want to consider development of this
indicator and its potential use to monitor the international commitments to reduce child malnutrition
by half by 2015.

83
Child and family benefit
Another lesson that can be drawn from the experiences of industrialised countries in reducing child
poverty is that, after public infrastructure investment, the most effective anti-poverty policy for
children is the establishment of a child or family social security benefit.

It has been argued elsewhere (Townsend and Gordon, 2002) that an international children's
investment fund should be established under the auspices of the UN. Half its annual resources
should be devoted to countries with extensive child poverty, where schemes of child benefit in cash
or kind exist or are introduced. All countries with large numbers of children who are below an
internationally recognised poverty line and also with comparatively low GDP should be entitled to
participate. Such participation would require dependable information that the benefits are reaching
children for whom they are intended. The remaining annual resources of the fund would be made
available to countries for investment in housing, sanitation and water infrastructure, education, health
and other schemes of direct benefit to children.

Programmes to gradually increase public expenditure so that categories of the extreme poor start to
benefit offer a realistic, affordable and successful method for poverty alleviation. For example, in
Brazil, the Zero Hunger Programme intends to provide quantity, quality and regularity of food to all
Brazilians in conjunction with accelerated Social Security reform. The first includes food banks,
popular restaurants, food cards, distribution of emergency food baskets, strengthening of family
agriculture and a variety of other measures to fight malnutrition. The Social Security reform
programme includes social assistance for low-income 15-17 year-olds, assistance for 7-14 year-olds
who are enabled to go to school and avoid the exacting toll of the worst conditions of child labour,
minimum income and food scholarships for pregnant and nursing mothers with incomes less than
half the minimum age or who are HIV positive, benefits for elderly disabled with special needs and a
range of other transfer programmes for the elderly, widowed, sick and industrially injured and
unemployed that are being enlarged year by year (Suplicy, 2003).

The social security systems of developing countries present a diverse picture. Partial systems were
introduced by colonial authorities in most of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. They were extended in
the first instance to civil servants and employees of large enterprises. There were benefits for
relatively small groups that included health care, maternity leave, disability allowances and pensions
(Midgeley, 1984; Ahmad et al, 1991). In India, there are differences among major states as well as a
range of schemes for smallish categories of population (Ghai, 2001;. Prabhu, 2001). In Latin
America, some countries introduced schemes before the 1939-45 war and others followed suit after
that war. Benefits tended to be limited in range and coverage. There were different systems for
particular occupations and categories of workers and a multiplicity of institutions. Between 20% and
60% of the workforce were covered, compared with between 5 and 10% for most of Sub-Saharan
Africa and 10 to 30% for most of Asia. “The greatest challenge facing the developing countries is to
extend the benefits of social security to the excluded majority to enable them to cope with indigence
and social contingencies.”(Huber, 1996)

These recommendations are the key to a far better future for hundreds of millions of children. But
how might social security systems now evolve to provide universal beneficial effects of more
substantial redistribution? Human rights now play a central part in discussions of international social
policy. This applies to civil and political rights, less so to social and economic rights. Articles 22
and 25 in the Declaration of Human Rights - dealing with the rights to an ‘adequate’ standard of
living and social security – have been often been overlooked in General Assembly and other reports
from the UN. The fundamental right to social security is also spelt out in Article 26 of the CRC and

84
the related rights to an adequate standard of living in Article 27 (see Chapters 1 and 2 and Appendix
I).

UNICEF and other international organisations (such as the ILO) should campaign for a legal right to
child benefit under Articles 25 and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The needs of children in the 21st Century

The needs of children in the 21st Century are different from those of children in 19th and 20th
Centuries and new policies will be required to meet these needs.. For example, in the 21st Century,
severe information deprivation is an important constraint on the development of both individual
children and societies as a whole – many consider that ‘knowledge is power’. This study provides
the first estimates of the extent of severe information deprivation amongst children. A quarter of
children in the developing world are severely information deprived with approximately 390 million
living in rural areas and 60 million living in urban areas.

Reducing information deprivation will require action at a number of different levels, including
getting children into school and increasing literacy rates for both children and adults. Without
this, the provision of newspapers and other media would have little effect.

The most cost-effective intervention is through improvements to radio access. Radio is one of
the main channels of information in developing countries. They are a cheap, effective means
through which communities can be informed about the importance of education and health
initiatives (e.g. immunisation for young children, the benefits of hand-washing, effective and
cheap ways to treat diarrhoea, availability of food supplements for malnourished children, etc.).
All countries have the means to make radio broadcasts. Governments could improve public
information services and regularly broadcast programmes that inform communities about simple
but effective changes they can make to their lives – e.g. making simple water filters using locally
available materials, constructing basic sanitation facilities at low cost, etc. The development of
cheap clockwork radios has meant the technology can be made available to all, at an affordable
price.

There are many examples of community radio networks which have an important role in the
provision of public information (e.g. the Developing Countries Farm Radio Network29, the World
Community Radio Movement30, Community Radios Worldwide31). Community organisations
have campaigned for the installation of small, local transmitters which can provide information to
local communities. They have also argued for the granting of broadcast licences to women’s
groups, local colleges and universities, cooperatives, etc. However, commercialisation of the
airwaves and the imposition of license fees have begun to affect community radio stations, as
they are pushed aside by commercial broadcasters.

29
Developing Countries Farm Radio Network is a Canadian-based, not-for-profit organisation working in partnership
with approximately 500 radio broadcasters in over 70 countries to fight poverty and food insecurity. It supports
broadcasters in meeting the needs of local small-scale farmers and their families in rural communities and helps
broadcasters build the skills to develop content that responds to local needs. (http://www.farmradio.org/)
30
AMARC is an international NGO serving the community radio movement, with almost 3 000 members and associates
in 106 countries. Its goal is to support and contribute to the development of community and participatory radio
along the principals of solidarity and international cooperation (http://www.amarc.org/amarc/ang/).
31
www.radiorobinhood.fi/communityradios/artciles

85
Governments might consider allocating resources to the development of community media funds
which would provide information over the airwaves on important issues such as health and
education. UN Organisations like the FAO and UNESCO have been committed to community
media and radio networks for a number of years and support initiatives providing information to
rural areas (Hughes, 2001; Ilboudo (2001). As one UNESCO report stated:

Community radio is low-cost, easy to operate reaches all segments of the community through local
languages and can offer information, education, entertainment, as well as a platform for debate and
cultural expression. As a grass-roots channel of communication, it maximises the potential for
development to be drawn from sharing the information, knowledge and skills already existing within
the community. It can therefore act as a catalyst for community and individual empowerment
(Hughes, 2001).

UNICEF could help inform both governments and the public on the importance of information
access for children and thereby raise the profile of this issue.

The poverty of girls

This study found that gender differences at the global level were greatest for severe education
deprivation, with girls 60% more likely to be deprived. Significant regional and country disparities
were revealed in the study, with girls in the Middle East and North Africa region three times more
likely to be severely education deprived.

The reasons why children (and particularly girls) do not go to school vary and policies need to be
targeted at the causes of non-attendance if they are to be effective. For example, children may not
attend school because there is no school close enough or because it is too expensive or because the
quality of the education is not good enough or because there is discrimination against girls.

Abolishing primary school fees may encourage and enable poor parents to send their children - and
particularly their daughters - to school. In some countries, there needs to be a concurrent effort made
to change social attitudes about the value of education for girls. This applies to all levels of society
including parents, politicians, and schoolteachers. There are other practical interventions that can be
pursued including the provision of incentives such as bursaries, free school meals and books,
improved sanitation facilities and security. As part of the global Education For All campaign,
UNESCO recently recommended a number of activities that governments should undertake to meet
the goals of eliminating gender disparities in education by 2005 and achieving gender equality by
2015. These are summarised below:

• Prove that they are serious about educating girls by implementing free and compulsory
education;
• Set concrete targets and fund them adequately;
• Educate mothers - the most crucial measure for the sustained education of girls;
• Support gender-responsive schools and allow pregnant girls and teenage mothers to continue
their education;
• Promote research into the root causes of gender discrimination in education and base policies
on the research findings;
• Make educational content relevant to local cultural and economic contexts so that parents see
that educating girls improves their quality of life;

86
 • Build bridges between the formal and non-formal education systems so that girls can return to
school after early marriages and pregnancy;
• Educate women as well as girls. Women are empowered through education and literate
mothers are more likely to send their daughters to school;
• Give families incentives to send girls to school, such as school meals;
• School feeding programs create a demand for education and enhance learning;
• Provide gender-sensitive curricula and textbooks;
• Train more female teachers and make teacher training gender responsive;
• Eliminate child labour. According to a recent ILO report, 352 million children between the
ages of 5 and 17 are engaged in economic activities of which 168 million are girls.
• Include HIV/AIDS prevention in the curriculum;
• Education is a powerful ‘social vaccine’ against the pandemic. Learning methods should
address the fact that girls are heading households, caring for siblings and being forced to
generate income;
• Build schools closer to girls’ homes to increase access, particularly for rural children;
• Make schools safe for girls and equip them with separate toilets.

Regional and country-specific anti-poverty policies

This research has found that the major causes of absolute child poverty vary both between and within
regions of the developing world. For the world as a whole, shelter combined with sanitation
deprivation affects the greatest number of children. Whereas shelter combined with water
deprivation is the biggest problem in Sub-Saharan Africa, in South Asia, almost 36% of households
with children suffer from shelter and information deprivation. By contrast, in the Middle East &
North African region, shelter combined with education deprivation affects the greatest number of
poor children. It is clear that, in order to eradicate absolute poverty amongst children, policies will
need to be targeted at the various problems they face. A single set of anti-poverty policies for the
planet is not the most effective or efficient way to eradicate child poverty. Aid donors and
international agencies need to be aware - and make the public aware - of the need for tailored anti-
poverty strategies which deal with the ‘real’ problems faced by children in different countries.
Investment in eradicating severe educational deprivation may be a very effective means of reducing
absolute child poverty in some countries in North Africa and the Middle East but it would be much
less effective in Latin America or South Asia where ending other severe child deprivations should be
prioritised.

Further research
A more sophisticated analysis of the needs of poor children would be useful to UNICEF and other
international agencies, governments and aid donors. This research could be extended in future in a
number of ways, including:

Country level and sub-region analysis

This research used data from the 46 countries where most of the world’s children live and this was
aggregated up to regional level. An analysis of the extent and nature of absolute poverty at country
level or sub-country level for the larger states like India or China would help identify priorities for
anti-poverty policies. The number of countries could also be increased.

87
A study of trends in child poverty
High quality survey data are available from the late 1980s and many countries have data available
from two or more points in time. An analysis of changes in the extent and nature of absolute poverty
of children would help identify both the successes and failures of anti-poverty policies.

Severe deprivation and mortality

Mortality data are available for each child born to women interviewed in the surveys. There is
considerable scientific evidence that absolute poverty can result in ill health and the death of
children. Some severe deprivations or combinations of deprivations may be more likely to kill than
others, e.g. water and food deprivation may have fatal consequences whereas education and
information deprivation may not. A study could include an analysis of gender disparities and
urban/rural differences.

The relationship between absolute poverty, income and standard of living

This research could be extended and validated by comparing the results from the Demographic and
Health Surveys (DHS) with those available from the World Bank’s LSMS Surveys and UNICEF’s
MICS Surveys. This would allow the relationship between absolute child poverty and consumption
to be established in a number of countries (i.e. how much household income or expenditure is
required for children to avoid absolute poverty). Similarly, the relationship between absolute child
poverty and a household’s standard of living (as measured by an asset index) could be identified.
Other causal factors related to child poverty could also be examined on a global scale, such as family
structure, employment, land ownership, etc.

88
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 Appendix I

Human Rights Provisions Relating to Poverty

Food "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for ... the health and
well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing,
medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security...."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 (1)

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions.” International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 11 (1)

“The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental

right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and
through international co-operation, the measures, including specific
programmes, which are needed: (a) To improve methods of production,
conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and
scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of
nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as
to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural
resources; (b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and
food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food
supplies in relation to need.” International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, Article 11 (2)

“States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in

particular, shall take appropriate measures: …(c) To combat disease and
malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care,
through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and
through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water,
taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental
pollution…” Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 24

“States Parties, in accordance with national conditions and within their

means, shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others
responsible for the child to implement this right [to a standard of living] and
shall in case of need provide material assistance and support programmes,
particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing. “Convention on
the Rights of the Child, Article 27 (3)

Water
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing
and medical care and necessary social services…” Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Article 25
“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions.” International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 11 (1)

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 “The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to
achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for :…
(b) the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial
hygiene…” International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, Article 12 (2)

“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate

discrimination against women in rural areas in order to ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women, that they participate in and benefit from rural
development and, in particular, shall ensure to such women the right: …(h)
To enjoy adequate living conditions, particularly in relation to housing,
sanitation, electricity and water supply, transport and communications.”
Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women, Article 14 (2)

“States Parties shall… take appropriate measures: …(c) To combat disease

and malnutrition, including within the framework of primary health care,
through, inter alia, the application of readily available technology and
through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking-water,
taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental
pollution…” Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 24 (2)

Sanitation “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing
and medical care and necessary social services…” Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Article 25

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions.” International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 11 (1)

“The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to

achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for :…
(b) the improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial
hygiene…” International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, Article 12 (2)
“States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of health.” Convention of the Rights of the
Child, Article 24 (1)

“States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in

particular, shall take appropriate measures:... (e) To ensure that all segments
of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to
education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health
and nutrition, the advantages of breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental
sanitation and the prevention of accidents” Convention of the Rights of the
Child, Article 24 (2)

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 “States Parties recognize the right of every child to a standard of living
adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social
development.” Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 27 (1)

Information “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive,
and impart information and ideas through the media regardless of frontiers.”
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 19

“Everyone should have the right to hold opinions without interference.

Everyone should have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall
include freedom to seek, receive and impart information of all kinds,
regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art,
or through any other media of his choice.” International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights,
Article 19

“The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall
include freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all
kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally or in writing or in print, in the
form of art, or through any other media of the child’s choice…” The
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 13

“States Parties recognise the important function performed by the mass

media and shall ensure that the child has access to information and material
from a diversity of national and international sources, especially those aimed
at the promotion of his or her social, spiritual and moral well-being and
physical and mental health.” The Convention on the Rights of the Child,
Article 17

Education “Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free at least in the
elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be
compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally
available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis
of merit.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 26 (1)

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise the right of everyone
to education. They agree that education shall be directed to the full
development of the human personality and the sense of dignity, and shall
strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. They
further agree that education shall enable all persons to participate effectively
in a free society, promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all
nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups, and further the activities of
the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.” International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 13 (1)

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognise that, with a view to
achieving the full realization of this right:
a) Primary education shall be compulsory and available free to all
b) Secondary education in its different forms, including technical and
vocational secondary education, shall be made generally available and
accessible to all be every appropriate means, and in particular by the

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 progressive introduction of free education;
c) Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, on the basis of
capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive
introduction of free education;
d) Fundamental education shall be encouraged or intensified as far as
possible for those persons who have not received or completed the whole
period of their primary education;
e) The development of a system of schools at all levels shall be actively
pursued, an adequate fellowship system shall be established, and the
material conditions of teaching staff shall be continuously improved.”
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
Article 13 (2)

“States Parties recognise the right of the child to education, and with a view
to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunities,
they shall, in particular:

a) Make primary education compulsory and available free to all;

b) Encourage the development of different forms of secondary education,
including general and vocational education, make them available and
accessible to every child, and take the appropriate measures such as the
introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of
need;
c) Make higher education accessible to all on the basis of capacity by every
appropriate means;
d) Make educational and vocational information and guidance available and
accessible to all children;
e) Take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the
reduction of drop-out rates….”

States Parties shall promote and encourage international co-operation in

matters relating to education, in particular with a view to contributing to the
elimination of ignorance and illiteracy throughout the world and facilitating
access to scientific and technical knowledge and modern teaching methods.
In this regard, particular account shall be taken of the needs of developing
countries. Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 28

“States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:
a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and
physical abilities to their fullest potential;
b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,
and for the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;
c) The development of respect for the child’s parents , his or her own
cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country
in which the child is living, the country from which he or she may originate,
and for civilisations different from his or her own;
d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the
spirit of understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of sexes, and friendship
among all peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of
indigenous origin;
e) The development of respect for the natural environment….” Convention
of the Rights of the Child, Article 29

Health “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing

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and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in
the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or
other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.” Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25 (1)

The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to
the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work which ensure, in
particular: …(b) Safe and healthy working conditions.” International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 7

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions…” International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 11 (1)

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental
health.” International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, Article 12 (1)

“The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to

achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for:
(a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant
mortality and for the healthy development of the child;
(b) The improvement of all aspects of environmental and industrial hygiene;
(c) The prevention, treatment and control of epidemic, endemic,
occupational and other diseases;
(d) The creation of conditions which would assure to all medical service and
medical attention in the event of sickness” International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Article 12 (2)

“States Parties recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of
illness and rehabilitation of health. States Parties shall strive to ensure that
no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services”
Convention of the Rights of the Child, Article 24 (1)

“States Parties shall pursue full implementation of this right and, in

particular, shall take appropriate measures:
(a) To diminish infant and child mortality;
(b) To ensure the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care
to all children with emphasis on the
development of primary health care;
(c) To combat disease and malnutrition, including within the framework of
primary health care, through, inter alia,
the application of readily available technology and through the provision of
adequate nutritious foods and clean
drinking-water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of
environmental pollution;
(d) To ensure appropriate pre-natal and post-natal health care for mothers;
(e) To ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children,
are informed, have access to
education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health

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 and nutrition, the advantages of
breastfeeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of
accidents;
(f) To develop preventive health care, guidance for parents and family
planning education and services. Convention of the Rights of the Child,
Article 25 (2)

Shelter “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and
well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and
medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the
event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other
lack of livelihood...." Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25
(1)

“The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone
to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including
adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of
living conditions”. International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, Article 11 (1)

“States Parties in accordance with national conditions and within their

means shall take appropriate measures to assist parents and others
responsible for the child to implement this right [to an adequate standard of
living] and shall in case of need provide material assistance and support
programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition, clothing and housing”.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,
Article 27(3)

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 Appendix II

International Agreements on Poverty and Human Rights

Food "Every man, woman and child has the inalienable right to be free from
hunger and malnutrition in order to develop their physical and mental
faculties."
Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition,
Art. 1

"Considering intolerable that more than 800 million people throughout the
developing world and millions in more affluent societies do not have
enough food to meet their basic needs; that millions more experience
prolonged hunger during part of the year or suffer birth defects, growth
retardation, mental deficiency, lethargy, blindness or death because they do
not have the diversity of food necessary to meet their total needs; ...
convinced that world resources, human skills and technological potential
do permit the achievement within one generation of sustainable food
security if determined and concerted efforts are undertaken; we confirm
our individual and common commitment to take considered action to
ensure that all people have at all times secure access to the food they need
for an active and healthy life with human dignity."
1996 Rome Declaration of the World Food Summit

"Sustainable development must be achieved at every level of society....

Governments ... should ...[promote] food security and ... food self-
sufficiency within the context of sustainable agriculture.... All countries
need to assess ... the impacts of [economic] policies on ... food security....
The major thrust of food security ... is to ... increase ... agricultural
production in a sustainable way and to achieve a substantial improvement
in people's entitlement to adequate food."
Agenda 21,Chapter 3, para. 8 and Chapter 14, para. 6

"Lack of food and the inequitable distribution of food for girls and women
in the household ... have a negative effect on their health. Good health is
essential to leading a productive and fulfilling life, and the right of all
women to control aspects of their health ... is basic to their empowerment.
Discrimination against girls, often resulting from son preference, in access
to nutrition ... endangers their current and future well-being.... Actions to
be taken: ... Give particular attention to the needs of girls.... Ensure that
girls have continuing access to necessary health and nutrition information
and services.... Promote and ensure household and national food security ...
and implement programmes aimed at improving the nutritional status of all
girls and women ..., including a reduction worldwide of ... malnutrition
among children under ... five by one half of 1990 levels by ... 2000, giving
special attention to the gender gap in nutrition, ... and a reduction in iron
deficiency anaemia in girls and women by one third of the 1990 levels by
the year 2000.... Ensure the availability of an universal access to safe
drinking water...."
Beijing Platform for Action, paras. 92, 93, and 106

"Human health and quality of life are at the centre of the effort to develop
sustainable human settlements. We therefore commit ourselves to ... the
highest attainable standard of ... health....Sustainable human settlements

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 depend on the interactive development of policies and concrete actions to
provide access to food and nutrition.... Governments ... should ... formulate
and implement human settlements development policies that ensure ... food
security ..., giving priority to the needs and rights of women and children,
who often bear the greatest burden of poverty...."
Habitat Agenda, paras. 36 and 116

Water “All peoples, whatever their stage of development and their social and
economic conditions, have the right to have access to drinking water in
quantities and of a quality equal to their basic needs”
Mar del Plata conference, United Nations, 1977

Countries were set the task of ‘universal coverage’ of safe water and
sanitation by 1990.
International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, 1981-
1990

“Lack of food and inequitable distribution of food for girls and women in
the household, inadequate access to safe water, sanitation facilities and
fuel supplies, particularly in rural and poor urban areas, and deficient
housing conditions, all overburden women and their families and have a
negative effect on their health.”

Government’s should “ensure that clean water is available and accessible

to all by the year 2000 and that environmental protection and conservation
plans are designed and implemented to restore polluted water systems and
rebuild damaged watersheds.” Fourth World Conference on women,
Beijing, China, 1995, para 92

“We commit ourselves to…providing adequate and integrated

environmental infrastructure facilities in all settlements as soon as possible
with a view to improving health by ensuring access for all people to
sufficient, continuous and safe freshwater supplies, sanitation, drainage
and waste disposal services, with a special emphasis on providing facilities
to segments of the population living in poverty…” Chapter 3, Habitat
Agenda, para 43

“Governments…[should]… provide the poor with access to fresh water

and sanitation”

“[Health] is also dependent on a healthy environment, including the

provision of a safe water supply and sanitation and the promotion of a safe
food supply and proper nutrition. Particular attention should be directed
towards ….comprehensive and sustainable water policies to ensure safe
drinking water and sanitation to preclude both microbial and chemical
contamination….”

“National Governments…should….develop and strengthen primary health

care systems that are practical, community-based, scientifically sound,
socially acceptable and appropriate to their needs and that meet basic
health needs for clean water, safe food and sanitation…”(Chapter 6,
Agenda 21

Governments agreed to establish a "dialogue", under the auspices of

the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) "aimed at

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 building a consensus on the necessary actions… in order to consider
initiating a strategic approach for the implementation of all aspects of the
sustainable use of freshwater for social and economic purposes…" (1997
UN General Assembly Special Session in New York (Earth Summit II
or Plus 5))

“We …. are resolved through decisions on targets, timetables and

partnerships to speedily increase access to basic requirements such as clean
water, sanitation, adequate shelter, energy, health care, food security and
the protection of bio-diversity … [We aim to] halve, by the year 2015, the
proportion of people without access to safe drinking water” The
Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development, 2002

Sanitation Countries were set the task of ‘universal coverage’ of safe water and
sanitation by 1990.
International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade, 1981-
1990

Governments should “ensure the availability of and universal access to

safe drinking water and sanitation and put in place effective public
distribution systems as soon as possible” Fourth World Conference on
women, Beijing, China, 1995, para 106

“We commit ourselves to …providing adequate and integrated

environmental infrastructure facilities in all settlements as soon as possible
with a view to improving health by ensuring access for all people to
sufficient, continuous and safe freshwater supplies, sanitation, drainage
and waste disposal services, with a special emphasis on providing facilities
to segments of the population living in poverty” Chapter 3, Habitat
Agenda, 1996, para 3

“National Governments…should develop and strengthen primary health

care systems that are practical, community-based, scientifically sound,
socially acceptable and appropriate to their needs and that meet basic
health needs for clean water, safe food and sanitation…” Chapter 6,
Agenda 21

“[We aim to] halve, by the year 2015, the proportion of people who do not
have access to basic sanitation” The Johannesburg Declaration on
Sustainable Development, 2002

Information “Societies that make the necessary investments in information technology

and infrastructure and enable and empower their citizens to make effective
use of such technology can expect to foster significant productivity gains
in industry, trade and commerce. This improved information technology
should be appropriately and optimally utilized to preserve and share
cultural and moral values and enhance and improve education, training and
public awareness of the social, economic and environmental issues
affecting the quality of life, and to enable all interested parties and
communities to exchange information on habitat practices, including those
that uphold the rights of children, women and disadvantaged groups in the
context of growing urbanization…. [action will be taken to] develop,
upgrade and maintain information infrastructure and technology and

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 encourage their use by all levels of government, public institutions, civil
society organizations and community-based organizations, and consider
communications as an integral part of human settlements policy;…
implement programmes that encourage the use, especially by children,
youth and educational institutions, of public libraries and communication
networks…”Habitat Agenda, 1996, Chapter 4

Education "Education ... should be recognized as a process by which human beings

and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is critical for
promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the
people to address environment and development issues.... Governments
should take active steps to ... eliminate illiteracy ... and to expand the
enrolment of women ... in educational institutions, to promote the goal of
universal access to primary and secondary education...." Agenda 21,
Chapter 36, para. 3; Chapter 3, para. 2; Chapter 24, para. 3

"We commit ourselves to ... the goals of universal and equitable access to
quality education ... making particular efforts to rectify inequalities relating
to social conditions and without distinction as to race, national origin,
gender, age or disability.... We will: Formulate and strengthen ... strategies
for the eradication of illiteracy and universalization of ... early childhood
education, primary education and education for the illiterate...; Emphasize
lifelong learning by seeking to improve the quality of education to ensure
that people of all ages are provided with useful knowledge, reasoning
ability, skills, and the ethical and social values required to develop their
full capacities in health and dignity and to participate fully in the social,
economic and political process of development...." Copenhagen
Declaration, Commitment 6

"Education is a human right and an essential tool for achieving the goals of
equality, development and peace.... Actions to be taken: ... Advance the
goal of equal access to education by taking measures to eliminate
discrimination in education at all levels on the basis of gender, race,
language, religion, national origin, age or disability, or any other form of
discrimination.... By the year 2000, provide universal access to basic
education and ensure completion of primary education by at least 80 per
cent of primary school-age children; close the gender gap in primary and
secondary school education by the year 2005; provide universal primary
education in all countries before the year 2015.... Reduce the female
illiteracy rate to at least half its 1990 level.... [Ensure] that women have
equal access to career development, training.... Improve ... quality of
education and ... equal ... access ... to ensure that women of all ages can
acquire the knowledge, capacities, ... skills ... needed to develop and to
participate fully ... in the process of ... development...."
Beijing Platform for Action, paras. 69, 80, 81, and 82

"We ... commit ourselves to promoting and attaining the goals of universal
and equal access to quality education,... making particular efforts to rectify
inequalities relating to social and economic conditions ... without
distinction as to race, national origin, gender, age, or disability, respecting
and promoting our common and particular cultures. Quality education for
all [is] fundamental to ensuring that people of all ages are able to develop
their full capacities ... and to participate fully in the social, economic and
political processes of human settlements.... We ... commit ourselves to ...

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 Promoting... appropriate facilities for ... education, combating segregation
and discriminatory and other exclusionary policies and practices, and
recognizing and respecting the rights of all, especially of women, children,
persons with disabilities, people living in poverty and those belonging to
vulnerable and disadvantaged groups...." Habitat Agenda, paras. 2.36
and 3.43

"... Education is a fundamental right for all people, women and men, of all
ages, throughout the world.... Every person -- child, youth and adult --
shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet
their basic learning needs.... to be able to survive, to develop their full
capacities, to live and work in dignity.... to improve the quality of their
lives, to make informed decisions...." World Declaration on Education
for All, Preamble and Article 1

"Education is empowerment. It is the key to establishing and reinforcing

democracy, to development which is both sustainable and humane and to
peace founded upon mutual respect and social justice. Indeed, in a world in
which creativity and knowledge play an ever greater role, the right to
education is nothing less than the right to participate in the life of the
modern world." Amman Affirmation, 1996

Our collectives commitments are to: “expand and improve comprehensive

early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and
disadvantaged children; ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls,
children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic
minorities, have access to and complete free and compulsory education of
good quality; ensure that the learning needs of all young people and adults
are met through equitable access to appropriate learning and life skills
programmes; achieve a 50% improvement in levels of adult literacy by
2015, especially for women, and equitable access to basic and continuing
education for all adult; eliminate gender disparities in primary and
secondary education by 2005, and achieve gender equality in education by
2015, with a focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to and
achievement in basic education of good quality; improve all aspects of the
quality of education and ensure excellence of all so that recognised and
measurable learning outcomes are achieved by all, especially literacy,
numeracy and essential life skills.” Dakar Framework of Action
Education for All, Senegal, 2000

Health "Health and development are intimately interconnected. Both insufficient

development leading to poverty and inappropriate development ... can
result in severe environmental health problems.... The primary health
needs of the world's population ... are integral to the achievement of the
goals of sustainable development and primary environmental care.... Major
goals ... By the year 2000 ... eliminate guinea worm disease...; eradicate
polio;... By 1995 ... reduce measles deaths by 95 per cent...; ensure
universal access to safe drinking water and ... sanitary measures of excreta
disposal...; By the year 2000 [reduce] the number of deaths from childhood
diarrhoea ... by 50 to 70 per cent..." Agenda 21,Chapter 6, paras. 1 and
12

"Everyone has the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health. States should take all appropriate measures

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to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, universal access to
health-care services, including those related to reproductive health
care....The role of women as primary custodians of family health should be
recognized and supported. Access to basic health care, expanded health
education, the availability of simple cost-effective remedies ... should be
provided...." Cairo Programme of Action, Principle 8 and para. 8.6

"We commit ourselves to promoting and attaining the goals of universal

and equitable access to ... the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health, and the access of all to primary health care, making
particular efforts to rectify inequalities relating to social conditions and
without distinction as to race, national origin, gender, age or disability...."
Copenhagen Declaration, Commitment 6

"The explicit recognition ... of the right of all women to control all aspects
of their health, in particular their own fertility, is basic to their
empowerment.... We are determined to ... ensure equal access to and equal
treatment of women and men in ... health care and enhance women's sexual
and reproductive health as well as Health."
Beijing Declaration, paras. 17 and 30

"Women have the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard
of physical and mental health. The enjoyment of this right is vital to their
life and well-being and their ability to participate in all areas of public and
private life.... Women's health involves their emotional, social and physical
well-being and is determined by the social, political and economic context
of their lives, as well as by biology.... To attain optimal health, ... equality,
including the sharing of family responsibilities, development and peace are
necessary conditions." Beijing Platform for Action, para. 89

"Strategic objective ... Increase women's access throughout the life cycles
to appropriate, affordable and quality health care, information and related
services.... Actions to be taken: ... Reaffirm the right to
the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental
health, protect and promote the attainment of this right for women and
girls and incorporate it in national legislation...; Provide more accessible,
available and affordable primary health care services of high quality,
including sexual and reproductive health care...; Strengthen and reorient
health services, particularly primary health care, in order to ensure
universal access to health services...; reduce maternal mortality by at least
50 per cent of the 1990 levels by the year 2000 and a further one half by
the year 2015;... make reproductive health care accessible ... to all ... no
later than ... 2015...; take specific measures for closing the gender gaps in
morbidity and mortality where girls are disadvantaged, while achieving ...
by the year 2000, the reduction of mortality rates of infants and children
under five ... by one third of the 1990 level...; by the year 2015 an infant
morality rate below 35 per 1,000 live births.... Ensure the availability of
and universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation...." Beijing
Platform for Action, para. 106

"Human health and quality of life are at the centre of the effort to develop
sustainable human settlements. We ... commit ourselves to ... the goals of
universal and equal access to ... the highest attainable standard of physical,
mental and environmental health, and the equal access of all to primary
health care, making particular efforts to rectify inequalities relating to

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 social and economic conditions ..., without distinction as to race, national
origin, gender, age, or disability. Good health throughout the life-span of
every man and woman, good health for every child ... are fundamental to
ensuring that people of all ages are able to ... participate fully in the social,
economic and political processes of human settlements .... Sustainable
human settlements depend on ... policies ... to provide access to food and
nutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, and universal access to the widest
range of primary health-care services...; to eradicate major diseases that
take a heavy toll of human lives, particularly childhood diseases; to create
safe places to work and live; and to protect the environment.... Measures to
prevent ill health and disease are as important as the availability of
appropriate medical treatment and care. It is therefore essential to take a
holistic approach to health, whereby both prevention and care are placed
within the context of environmental policy...." Habitat Agenda, paras.
36 and 128
Shelter
"The right to adequate housing, ... derived from the right to an adequate
standard of living, is of central importance for the enjoyment of all
economic, social and cultural rights.... The right to adequate housing
applies to everyone.... [I]ndividuals, as well as families, are entitled to
adequate housing regardless of age, economic status, group or other
affiliation or status.... [T]his right must ... not be subject to any form of
discrimination.... [T]he right to housing should not be interpreted in a
narrow or restrictive sense.... Rather it should be seen as the right to live ...
in security, peace and dignity...." Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 4, paras. 1, 6 and 7

"States should undertake ... all necessary measures for the realization of
the right to development and shall ensure ... equality of opportunity for all
in their access to basic resources, education, health services, food, housing,
employment...." Declaration on the Right to Development, Article 8

"Access to safe and healthy shelter is essential to a person's physical,

psychological, social and economic well-being and should be a
fundamental part of national and international action.... An integrated
approach to the provision of environmentally sound infrastructure in
human settlements, in particular for ... urban and rural poor, is an
investment in sustainable development that can improve the quality of life,
increase productivity, improve health and reduce the burden of investments
in curative medicine and poverty alleviation.... As a first step towards the
goal of providing adequate shelter for all, all countries should take
immediate measures to provide shelter to their homeless poor.... All
countries should adopt and/or strengthen national shelter strategies with
targets....; facilitate access of urban and rural poor to shelter by adopting
and utilizing housing and finance schemes and new innovative
mechanisms adapted to their circumstances.... People should be protected
by law against unfair eviction from their homes or land...." Agenda 21,
Chapter 7, paras. 6 and 9

"We reaffirm our commitment to the full and progressive realization of the
right to adequate housing.... We shall seek ... to ensure legal security of
tenure, protection from discrimination and equal access to affordable,
adequate housing for all persons and their families.... As we move into the
twenty-first century, we offer ... an exhortation to join ... [in] building
together a world where everyone can live in a safe home with the promise

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of a decent life of dignity, good health, safety, happiness and hope."
Istanbul Declaration, paras. 8 and 15

"We recognize that access to safe and healthy shelter and basic services is
essential to a person's physical, psychological, social and economic well-
being and should be a fundamental part of our urgent actions for the more
than one billion people without decent living conditions. Our objective is
to achieve adequate shelter for all, especially the deprived urban and rural
poor, through an enabling approach to the development and improvement
of shelter that is environmentally sound.... We reaffirm... our commitment
to ensuring the full realization of the human rights set out in international
instruments and in particular ... the right to adequate housing.... Equitable
human settlements are those in which all people, without discrimination of
any kind ... have equal access to housing, infrastructure, health services,
adequate food and water, education and open spaces.... Such human
settlements provide equal opportunity for a productive and freely chosen
livelihood; equal access to economic resources, including the right to
inheritance, the ownership of land and other property, credit, natural
resources and appropriate technologies; equal opportunity for personal,
spiritual, religious, cultural and social development; equal opportunity for
participation in public decision-making; equal rights and obligations with
regard to the conservation and use of natural and cultural resources; and
equal access to mechanisms to ensure that rights are not violated...."
Habitat Agenda, paras. 3, 26, and 27

"We reaffirm our commitment to the full and progressive realization of the
right to adequate housing....We recognize an obligation by Governments to
enable people to obtain shelter and to protect and improve dwellings and
neighbourhoods. We commit ourselves to the goal of improving
living...conditions on an equitable and sustainable basis, so that everyone
will have adequate shelter that is healthy, safe, secure, accessible and
affordable and that includes basic services, facilities and amenities, and
will enjoy freedom from discrimination in housing and legal security of
tenure. We shall implement and promote this objective in a manner fully
consistent with human rights standards.... We... commit ourselves to ...
Providing legal security of tenure and equal access to land to all people...;
Promoting access for all people to safe drinking water, sanitation and other
basic services, facilities and amenities...; Eradicating and ensuring legal
protection from discrimination in access to shelter and basic services,
without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth
or other status...."
Habitat Agenda, paras. 39, 40, and 43

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 Appendix III

Constructing a Combined Index of Anthropometric Failure

The extent of food deprivation was measured using data on anthropometric failure (i.e. a failure to
achieve expected heights and weights for age) from the DHS surveys. Using a theory by Swedish
development economist Peter Svedberg (Svedberg, 2000), a Composite Index of Anthropometric
Failure (CIAF) was constructed using height, weight and age data for young children. An advantage
of the CIAF is that it avoids the problem of overlap that exists between current anthropometric
indices (stunting, wasting and underweight), and thus gives a more comprehensive estimate of the
number of children who are stunted and/or wasted and/or underweight. Diagram AIII.1 illustrates
the first stage in the construction of the CIAF.

Diagram AIII.1 - Svedberg's Original Model of Anthropometric Failure

Diagram AIII.1 illustrates Svedberg's original model of anthropometric failure. Groups A to F

represent the different combinations of anthropometric failure possible, which are summarised in
Table AIII.1.

Table AIII.1 - Groups of anthropometric failure

Groups Wasted Stunted Underweight

A No failure No No No
B Wasted only Yes No No
C Wasted & Underweight Yes No Yes
D Wasted, Stunted & Underweight Yes Yes Yes
E Stunted & Underweight No Yes Yes
F Stunted only No Yes No
Y Underweight only No No Yes

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Children in group A have acceptable heights and weights and thus do not suffer from anthropometric
failure - i.e. they are not stunted, wasted or underweight. Children in group B are wasted, although
not stunted or underweight; those in group C are wasted and underweight but not stunted; those in
group D are simultaneously wasted, stunted and underweight; those in group E are stunted and
underweight, but not wasted and those in group F are only stunted. An additional group, Y, was
revealed when the index was constructed, and these are children who are underweight only, but who
are not stunted or wasted. This last group was missed by Svedberg's original model. The modified
model is presented in Diagram AIII.2.

Diagram AIII.2 - Modification of Svedberg's Model

Svedberg argued that, if children who are stunted, wasted or underweight (i.e. groups B to F) are all
considered to have anthropometric failure, then the only true estimate of overall anthropometric
failure could be measured by the sum of areas B, C, D, E, F and Y. Thus, the CIAF includes all
children in groups B to Y.

Showing distinct groups of anthropometric failure in this way can, in addition, show which groups
(or what proportions of children) are missed by existing estimates based on the standard underweight
and stunting measures. Tables AIII.2 and AIII.3 and Diagram AIII.3 provide an example.

Table AIII.2: Anthropometric failure at mild/moderate and severe levels in Indian children 0-2
years old (N=24,396)

Number of children % children

Mild to moderate
Stunting 11,024 45.2
Wasting 3,904 15.9
Underweight 11,493 47.1
Combined anthropometric failure 14,590 59.8

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 Severe
Stunting 5,557 22.8
Wasting 716 2.9
Underweight 4,366 17.9
Combined anthropometric failure 7,105 29.1

The data in Table AIII.2 show rates of wasting, stunting and underweight at mild/moderate (i.e.
below -2 standard deviations) and severe (i.e. below -3 standard deviations) levels. Also presented
are the results of the new measure of combined anthropometric failure. As can be seen in Table
AIII.2, the three standard anthropometric indices show quite different levels of anthropometric
failure. Each, however, is considerably lower than the combined anthropometric failure figure. This
is true at both mild/moderate and severe levels. Groups of anthropometric failure produced during
the construction of the CIAF are shown below, at both mild/moderate and severe levels.

Table AIII.3: Groups of anthropometric failure at mild/moderate and severe levels (N=24,396)

Number of
Mild to Moderate % of children
children
Group A - No failure 9,806 40.2
Group B - Wasted only 630 2.6
Group C - Wasted & Underweight 1,489 6.1
Group D - Wasted, Stunted & Underweight 1,756 7.2
Group E - Stunted & Underweight 6,801 27.9
Group F - Stunted only 2,467 10.1
Group Y - Underweight only 1,447 5.9

Total 24,396 100.0

Number of
Severe % of children
children
Group A - No failure* 1,7291 70.9
Group B - Wasted only 256 1.0
Group C - Wasted & Underweight 324 1.3
Group D - Wasted, Stunted & Underweight 132 0.5
Group E - Stunted & Underweight 2,941 12.1
Group F - Stunted only 2,484 10.2
Group Y - Underweight only 968 4.0

Total 24,396 100

* Includes children with anthropometric failure at mild to moderate level.

Data from Table AIII.3 are illustrated in Diagram AIII.3 which shows which groups are missed by
the commonly used anthropometric measures. The underweight (low weight for age) measure
includes children in groups C, D, E and Y but misses those in groups B, and F. This means that, at
the mild/moderate level, 12.7 % of children with anthropometric failure (i.e. those who are stunted
only and wasted only) are missed. At the severe level, 11.2% of children suffering from
anthropometric failure are missed. The stunting (low height for age) measure includes children in
groups D, E and F but misses those in groups B, C and Y - i.e. 14.6% of children at the

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mild/moderate level, and 6.3% at the severe level. The wasting measure (low weight for height)
misses the greatest proportion of children - those in groups E, F and Y, a total of 43.9% at the
mild/moderate level and 26.3% at the severe level.

Diagram AIII.3: Groups of anthropometric failure

Extrapolations of anthropometric failure data

In the DHS, anthropometric data were collected for children 0-2 or 0-4, depending on the country.
Overall rates of severe anthropometric failure were calculated, and results broken down by age,
gender and place of residence (i.e. urban/rural).

When data were broken down by age (in years), it was observed that between 0-1 years,
anthropometric failure (at both moderate and severe levels) was significantly lower than in years 2-4,
which affected the overall figure. This meant those states that collected data only on children 0-2
years appeared to have lower rates compared to states with data on children 0-4. To adjust for this
effect, data were extrapolated for years 3-4 in those states that only collected data on 0-2 year olds,
by repeating the prevalence rate at age 2 for years 3 and 4.

This was done because, in those states where data were collected for years 3 and 4, a levelling of the
anthropometric failure rate was observed after age 2 and 3. Diagrams AIII.5 and AIII.6 below
illustrate the pattern of anthropometric failure by age (in months) for two states, Pakistan and
Ethiopia.

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Diagram AIII.5: Pattern of anthropometric failure in Pakistan, children 0-59 months
S e v e r e A F b y A g e in M o n th s - P a k is ta n

5 0 .0

4 5 .0

4 0 .0

3 5 .0

3 0 .0
% with Severe AF

2 5 .0

2 0 .0

1 5 .0

1 0 .0

5 .0

0 .0
0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0
A g e in M o n th s

Diagram AIII.6: Pattern of anthropometric failure in Ethiopia, children 0-59 months

S e v e r e A F B y A g e in M o n th s - E t h io p ia

5 0 .0

4 5 .0

4 0 .0

3 5 .0

3 0 .0
% with Severe AF

2 5 .0

2 0 .0

1 5 .0

1 0 .0

5 .0

0 .0
0 1 0 2 0 3 0 4 0 5 0 6 0
A g e in M o n t h s

It is important to extrapolate beyond age 2 (in those countries where data are not collected), because
gender differences only really begin to present themselves at this point. In most states, girls tend to
have lower rates of anthropometric failure in years 0, 1 and 2 than boys. However, in years 3 and 4
the gap narrows and, in some states, (particularly in South Asia) girls start to have higher rates of
anthropometric failure. The reasons for this have been widely discussed in the literature.

Table AIII.4 shows how extrapolations were made for countries in South Asia. Extrapolated data are
italicised. The 'DHS total' figure is the original overall rate from the DHS data (i.e. based on
children 0-2 or 0-4 years). The 'Adjusted total' is calculated from the AF prevalence rate for each
year, extrapolating the data from year 2 to years 3 and 4 where necessary, and then taking an
average.

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Table AIII.4: Extrapolations of anthropometric failure data by age, South Asia (%)

Age in years DHS Adjusted

State 0 1 2 3 4 total total
Bangladesh 12.6 37.7 35.4 33.4 32.9 30.2
India 9.6 30.2 30.6 30.6 30.6 23.2 26.3
Nepal 7.3 30.6 33.0 33.0 33.0 23.6 27.4
Pakistan 9.3 24.8 28.3 29.1 26.1 22.9

Had the DHS total been used for India and Nepal, the two states which only collected data on
children 0-2 years, then countries like Nepal and Pakistan would have appeared to have had
relatively higher rates of anthropometric failure, since their DHS totals include the higher rates
observed in ages 3 and 4. It is for this reason that anthropometric failure rates were extrapolated for
those states which did not collect data on children over two years old.

Extrapolating anthropometric failure rates for older children

Due to the lack of studies on anthropometric failure in older children, there are no reliable estimates
of for children over the age of 5. Staff at the WHO Global Database on Child Growth and
Malnutrition have confirmed that prevalence rates of stunting, wasting and underweight (i.e.
anthropometric failure) are not the same across different age groups (i.e. from pre-school age to
adolescence), and there are a number of studies which show this. A long-term study of the heights of
first grade students (for ages 6 to 9) in Latin American and Caribbean countries, found that rates of
stunting persist in older children, as Table AIII.5 shows. Thus, in households where children under 5
experience severe anthropometric failure, it is likely that older children will also be affected.

Table AIII.5: Stunting in 1st Grade schoolchildren in Latin America and the Caribbean

Number of Stunting prevalence (%) by age in years

State Year
children 6 7 8 9 Total
Costa Rica 1997 85,786 4.6 6.4 13.5 23.2 7.5
Belize 1996 22,426 15.8 15.7 14.7 15.4 15.4
Mexico 1993 2,589,577 13.1 19.6 32.7 40.3 18.4
Dominican Republic 1995 188,091 12.1 18.6 24.0 30.9 19.0
Nicaragua 1986 100,265 16.5 23.3 28.9 37.2 23.9
Panama 1994 59,921 17.0 24.0 41.0 51.0 23.9
El Salvador 1988 120,457 20.5 25.9 32.7 37.8 29.8
Honduras 1997 234,111 17.0 28.0 43.0 51.0 40.6
Guatemala 1986 205,959 35.0 43.6 56.5 67.2 50.6
Source: ACC/SCN (2000).

Similar rates and patterns in older children (i.e. over age five) have been reported in other regions
(Partnership for Child Development, 1998).

There are studies that look at the risk of undernutrition in older children. The International Centre
for Research on Women (ICRW) studied the heights of adolescent girls, and concluded that the
Height for Age measure (in children who were already stunted) did not improve during the eight
years of adolescence (Kurz and Johnson-Welch, 1994). Another study (Sellen, 2000) looked at the
anthropometric status of children aged 0-18 years in an African pastoral community and noted that

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the risk of undernutrition was not uniformly distributed within the child population. It noted that
"comparison of cross-sectional mean anthropometric scores suggested that children over 5 years,
girls 5-8 years, boys 9-12 years and teenagers were found to be at highest risk of undernutrition as
assessed by various indicators".

While the WHO is collecting data for development of an international reference population, data will
only be available for young children (i.e. under 5). To assess properly the extent of anthropometric
failure in all children in the developing world, data need to be collected on older children, ideally up
to 18 years of age. Until that is done, the only estimates than can be made are of children under 5.

The combined index of anthropometric failure used in the report allows for more comprehensive and
accurate estimates, and shows that the extent of anthropometric failure among children under 5 in the
developing world is considerably higher than is currently thought.

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Appendix IV: Severe Deprivation and Absolute Poverty of Children: Country Data
% Urban % Rural
Child (<18) % % in
% Water % Sanitation % Shelter % Information % Education % Food % Health Children in Children in
State Population Severely Absolute
Deprived Deprived Deprived Deprived Deprived Deprived Deprived Absolute Absolute
('000s) in 2000 Deprived Poverty
Poverty Poverty
Bolivia 3,830 14.8 37.1 43.9 13.1 1.3 9.2 9.5 58.9 32.9 11.7 64.9
Brazil 59,515 .. 15.0 11.8 8.3 2.4 2.7 5.5 25.3 10.0 4.3 27.7
Colombia 16,302 9.1 11.0 11.9 4.0 2.0 3.0 5.8 24.4 10.5 2.0 28.5
Dominican Republic 3,359 23.0 11.1 17.1 8.1 4.2 2.9 3.4 40.7 15.2 4.3 30.2
Guatemala 5,764 12.3 15.9 58.7 14.4 11.4 19.3 8.0 63.8 33.7 16.6 44.1
Haiti 3,915 42.6 44.9 49.8 41.6 18.2 16.2 25.5 74.6 56.6 15.8 77.7
Nicaragua 2,533 12.0 16.9 62.6 15.6 11.0 8.8 3.2 67.2 30.8 11.9 54.4
Peru 10,198 22.9 25.6 56.1 7.9 0.9 7.4 5.7 62.0 35.4 11.9 66.2
Egypt 28,663 8.3 6.2 41.9 27.6 11.3 14.0 8.0 56.7 26.6 8.5 38.9
Morocco 12,302 37.1 43.5 40.7 14.4 34.6 9.0 10.3 64.0 47.0 7.2 72.3
Yemen 10,295 49.8 58.9 59.1 19.0 36.3 6.5 45.6 86.6 67.6 17.8 78.5
Cambodia 6,832 59.1 80.8 8.6 37.6 17.3 12.1 29.2 91.8 70.8 8.0 92.0
China 378,939 3.7 1.7 3.0 3.3 0.3 4.5 0.3 13.1 1.6 1.8 1.5
Indonesia 78,233 24.0 15.6 21.7 21.1 2.6 .. 9.8 51.2 19.8 5.3 27.3
Philippines 33,835 18.7 15.6 23.9 11.9 2.7 .. 11.2 46.7 19.8 7.5 30.2
Bangladesh 62,494 2.5 24.6 89.7 47.4 19.7 30.2 16.5 92.5 62.4 24.9 66.6
India 399,798 19.4 68.3 36.8 38.3 15.6 26.3 21.4 79.9 57.2 21.2 68.4
Nepal 10,921 37.0 85.1 93.9 41.6 28.7 27.4 32.6 98.3 90.3 52.5 93.2
Pakistan 68,231 19.5 51.0 46.7 45.3 38.4 22.9 33.5 83.0 61.0 25.0 77.1
Benin 3,360 29.2 74.5 49.7 65.7 47.7 13.0 19.1 92.6 74.7 48.0 89.4
Burkina Faso 6,457 46.6 78.2 75.8 48.9 67.6 16.4 18.8 93.4 84.0 18.6 93.0
Cameroon 7,453 53.1 10.3 57.9 29.7 16.4 12.3 20.0 77.4 54.3 17.3 70.6
Central African Republic 1,844 51.9 24.0 80.7 30.7 30.7 18.9 24.2 88.9 65.4 39.2 85.6
Chad 4,172 55.2 72.1 95.9 54.0 59.1 23.3 51.2 97.3 88.2 54.5 97.7
Comoros 355 51.8 0.3 55.3 42.8 35.4 14.1 13.6 87.5 56.5 33.0 64.8
Côte d'Ivoire 7,943 21.1 42.2 30.2 37.3 40.7 13.0 26.4 72.0 47.3 13.7 66.4
Ethiopia 32,456 74.9 83.9 95.1 56.5 61.1 28.5 32.3 97.8 94.0 58.6 99.2
Ghana 9,303 50.8 25.6 29.1 37.4 14.8 10.8 10.3 77.7 47.0 18.7 58.1
Guinea 4,145 44.4 43.5 57.0 48.1 55.7 8.9 25.9 87.9 71.1 31.5 86.7
Kenya 15,705 63.1 17.1 74.0 29.3 6.0 13.6 41.3 86.8 65.8 19.8 73.7
Madagascar 8,174 70.8 63.0 38.6 43.1 24.8 25.2 24.0 89.7 74.2 45.7 82.5
Malawi 6,002 52.8 24.9 85.1 42.6 30.1 22.6 9.9 91.6 74.6 28.9 80.9
Mali 5,980 18.8 26.7 79.3 31.3 67.9 26.2 33.1 87.2 63.5 26.8 77.3
Mauritania 1,353 37.5 51.6 77.1 44.2 19.7 17.8 22.3 90.1 70.5 47.4 85.9
Mozambique 9,231 56.7 59.7 74.7 45.6 28.0 17.9 29.1 89.7 76.3 37.8 87.5
Namibia 884 46.2 67.6 71.9 19.0 6.6 8.9 9.4 80.9 69.8 12.3 89.8
Niger 6,123 37.1 79.8 85.3 42.8 69.2 30.0 46.3 91.8 85.2 31.9 97.4
Nigeria 59,108 44.0 26.0 45.1 35.4 22.1 16.0 39.7 78.8 52.6 22.1 64.5
Rwanda 3,941 88.7 5.8 89.2 39.4 23.9 20.5 9.2 97.3 86.9 39.2 89.3
Senegal 4,804 23.1 33.3 45.8 22.4 .. .. .. 63.1 39.4 9.0 55.9
South Africa 17,589 28.5 16.2 25.8 12.9 2.1 .. 3.5 45.5 24.3 3.9 42.2

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Tanzania 18,258 67.0 13.3 83.2 49.8 34.9 18.3 20.4 91.9 78.1 36.1 88.5
Togo 2,310 31.4 66.9 33.3 45.5 21.1 12.0 19.4 83.5 61.9 23.4 73.0
Uganda 13,062 87.2 16.8 87.7 38.6 17.0 16.6 22.0 96.7 85.4 39.7 91.1
Zambia 5,571 45.8 26.9 59.8 34.2 20.1 18.1 7.3 75.6 56.8 17.9 81.9
Zimbabwe 6,645 41.5 31.9 34.8 31.1 5.2 9.7 11.9 66.7 45.3 1.0 60.8
Note: Percentages for Health and Food Deprivation are for the population aged under 5 and for Education Deprivation it is for the population aged 7 to 18.

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